Queen of Angels
by Claire Sail
Summary: Post-AoD. Lara sets out to put an end to the troubles that haunt and threaten her life, only one of which is the Nephilim. Just when she thought it was finally over, Kurtis thrusts the tomb raider back into turmoil and crisis. LCxKT
1. Prologue

**~ Prologue ~**

* * *

There, plastered on the TV screen, was her name and picture again. Lara Croft had gotten used to seeing her wanted ads in the papers and on the news, but this one looked different. The little Czech she could speak and read didn't help her much, but one name stood out among the rest: Pieter van Eckhardt.

 _Eckhardt._ So the Prague police finally got around to looking through what remained of the Strahov. The news report seemed to link his name with the Monstrum killings. Tuning the radio until she found a station in English, she listened until her suspicions were confirmed: The Prague police were currently looking for a missing man by the name of Eckhardt in relation to the slew of grisly deaths all across Europe. Lara went to the telephone in her dingy hotel room and dialed a number well-memorized.

"Winston, it's me. Get me the number to my lawyer, please."

* * *

What she really wanted to do was find Kurtis. But at this point she had no reason to even believe he was alive. All she had to go on was a hunch; she couldn't even find a body. All she had left was his strange bladed-disc weapon that came 'alive' when she picked it up down in the bowels of the Strahov. However, the weapon hadn't moved since then, seemingly gone dead along with its owner. Lara felt an unusual wash of sadness over this thought; she hardly knew the man so his death should have had no effect on her, but at the same time it was a shame he died without knowing his father had been avenged.

Under the care of her lawyer and with his guidance, Lara spoke to the Prague police and told them her versions of the events. She justified running from the police on the grounds that she feared for her life; it was no secret that at the time the Parisian police were very jumpy and trigger-happy. After a lot of back-and-forth, and a rather large chunk of change being deducted from her bank account, Lara found her wanted status on Interpol removed. Once someone more sinister and with a greater amount of evidence against them showed up, it was easy to convince them of her innocence.

As soon as she was officially cleared as a suspect and released to leave the country a month had passed and the trail to Kurtis had gone cold.

* * *

The manor in Surrey was as cold and silent as ever, both comforting in its familiarity but also strangely melancholic, for today she couldn't get a man off her mind.

Lara had devoted her new-found freedom and spare time to retraining herself. Some time had passed between when she was entombed in Egypt and when she began running from the police, and that time off from raiding tombs had not been kind to her. She was really _not_ in top form. Though she had no plans to restart that lifestyle, there was no telling when she'd need to be quick on her feet again. Therefore there was no reason not to continue her training regime.

She was slowly going mental. She refused to partake in the lifestyle that almost killed her and left her severely scarred, but then she didn't really feel like she was _alive_. Practicing was a fine substitute when she knew it was in preparation of an upcoming adventure, but practicing for practice's sake was _boring._ There was only so many ways she could rearrange the obstacle course, so many times she could beat the punching bag with fists and feet until it fell off its chain. At some point she was going to have to find a hobby that didn't involve adrenaline, but today was not that day.

Already she had run the assault course in her backyard twice, her finishing time well-below her best time. _I just need more time,_ she told herself, but the truth was it terrified her. There was no telling how many times she came _this close_ to nearly dying again. It was pure luck she survived Paris and Prague with her guts intact (literally, when taking Eckhardt into account), and the thought left her gasping for air with sweaty palms, unrelated to the exercise she just underwent.

With her name officially no longer tied to the Monstrum case, her phone rang at all hours of the day. Friends, reporters, and acquaintances alike all wanted to hear from her. It reminded her too much of when she returned from Egypt, when the press wanted the scoop on how she survived, so she ignored the majority of the calls. She might have been let off the hook, but her name was still tarnished. The killings would follow her everywhere. She wondered if she could ever find a semblance of peace again. In the blink of an eye, her entire life had become all about the two worst things to ever happen to her. And they were both courtesy of Werner.

She took the calls that were from her friends, if she could still call them that. Father Bram Dunstan wanted to let her know she could talk to him whenever she wanted and that he was praying for her. Jean-Yves told her he would serve as a character witness if she needed one, to declare with certainty she would never kill Von Croy (a lie, they both knew, but she shrugged it off as a vision through rose-colored lenses). Charles Kane wondered if she'd like to catch a drink with him, but she knew once she stumbled down that rabbit hole she'd be tempted to stay there, drowning her sorrow and self-pity in an endless stream of alcohol. Even Zip contacted her, though she wished she had screened _that_ message; he was entirely too clownish for anything he said to actually cheer her up.

The one person she would have welcomed a call from, didn't call. Every time the phone rang, she wondered if it could be him.

In fact, all the messages did was further widen the gap in her mind that separated her from everyone else in society. Lara had always been somewhat of a loner, different from others. But before the events that transpired in Egypt she at least had connections, people she'd called 'friends'. Now even they seemed like strangers, set-apart from her by an invisible wall of glass – she could see them but they couldn't touch her.

So it was with this all on her mind that she recalled that man, the stranger that looked into her eyes and seemed to _know_ her...

* * *

He pressed the down arrow on the button pad with his leather gloved finger, and with a jolt and grinding of the mechanism, the elevator began its descent.

"Master," the deep accented voice began, "The construction on the lower level has finished. The workers are ready to begin digging."

A cultured baritone voice answered. "Good. And what of the woman?"

"The woman is in England. She's not left her residence for weeks."

"And the man?" The elevator stopped.

"Location is unknown... Master, are you sure -"

The man with the gloved hands raised one, pausing the other. "Have faith in me. He's alive, and he won't stay away for long." The doors slowly opened, and the one speaking exited into the open arena, turned and spoke again. "Keep watching Ms. Croft, I will be requiring her soon. If a sudden case of wanderlust overcomes her, capture her and bring her to me immediately. As for the Lux Veritatis: Should you encounter him, kill him on sight."

"Yes, Master." The elevator doors shut, and burly man traveled back up, going over the preparations in his head.


	2. Reunited

**~ 1 : Reunited ~**

* * *

Flying through the air, the tomb raider just barely managed to grab hold of the ledge, knocking the air out of her lungs as her body collided with the high crate. Fingers aching tightly, she pulled herself up onto the platform, inhaled deeply, and took off at a sprint to make her next jump. This was the third time in a row she went through her outdoor assault course this morning and despite her impression to the contrary, she was actually _gaining_ each time. She was well above her record time and she knew, logically, that she needed to rest, but her determination urged her to try again and again. All it served was for her to get more frustrated and slower each time, making novice mistakes. Like almost missing that easy jump.

As she fell again, catching the lattice work of rope along the large box and splashing the water underneath with her boots, she heard a peculiar noise. It reminded her of something, something that brought a nostalgic feeling...but she couldn't place it. She let go and dropped into the small pool and looked about, but saw nothing.

Just then the noise got louder. It was a whirring, a low hum, or perhaps a vibration; and just as the memory associated with that particular sound started to register, she saw it. The five-bladed circular disc flew at her, neck-height, and she ducked and rolled, bringing herself back up to a stand as the disc arced back around. She watched it with fascination, having not seen it move an inch since that moment in the Strahov, when she swore it tried to lead her to its owner.

Lara followed its path until it nestled into to the waiting hand of none other than Kurtis Trent, standing a few yards from her. He attached the weapon to his belt hook at his hip and casually strolled over, his face impassive.

He looked the same as she remembered. Same clothes – boots, olive drab pants, black shirt over white long sleeve shirt, belt, shoulder holster – with the exception of his shirt, which was a different one. Still black, but the motif was from some metal band with which Lara was only vaguely familiar. Everything else was the same, including his cockiness, its presence evident by the way he carried himself. As he neared, his expression turned more playful; his eyes narrowing just a little bit, his head lolling to the side. Several times she thought to say something, to greet him perhaps, but the awkwardness of seeing _him_ here, in her backyard, as though he wasn't a ghost, was too much for her. Because that's what she assumed had become of him. He was supposed to be dead.

He stopped short of her about a foot – far too close in most social settings – and his eyes roamed down her body nonchalantly, not even trying to be discreet. It made her feel self-conscious, which was a hard feat to accomplish. She was used to men ogling her. It was to be expected with the way she looked and dressed. But it coming from _him_ was somehow different. She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her cleavage, instead placing her hands on her hips and quirking an eyebrow at him. _Let him look_ , she thought, _cu_ _z_ _he'll never get to touch._ She ignored the nagging voice that reminded her he had already felt her up once, and the only thing she did to get even was grope him in return.

His blue eyes returned to hers and a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. Before she fully realized what was happening, he suddenly jumped up and began climbing the rope up the crate, wasting no time. Only when he hauled himself up top, looked down at her, and flashed her a wink, did it settle in her mind that he was _racing._

Without sparing another second she began ascending the crates, chasing after him with all her might. For the first time that morning she was able to make all the jumps without error. When she got to the swimming section she was able to overtake Kurtis, for he had chosen to take the above route that avoided the water. By the time she made it to the zip-line she was in the lead, though not by far, and it was she who was the first to cross the finish line. Unfortunately she hadn't timed herself on that run, but if she were to guess, she'd say it was the best of the day.

Panting and wringing the water from her braid, she glanced back at him. His face was flush, a small sheen of sweat spotted along his hairline. She turned her back to him, kicked off her boots, and then proceeded to peel her sopping wet gym pants from her legs, leaving her only in her cropped sports bra and boyshorts. Feeling bold, she looked back at him to gauge his reaction, then fearlessly strolled away, entering the mansion through the front door. As she walked through the door to her bedroom she spotted him across the hall, going into the library. Their eyes locked for a moment, and whatever reaction she'd hoped she'd elicit from him, she was disappointed.

* * *

After a quick rinse in the shower, Lara headed to the library in fresh lounge wear and with her hair wrapped in a towel. Kurtis was sitting at the desk there, reading a thick dusty book.

"Didn't take you for the bookish type." she said quietly as she padded by barefoot.

"I'm not just a pretty face." Kurtis retorted. Ah, she remembered, he has a sense of humor.

"What are you reading?" she asked as she sat on the chaise opposite him. Evidently not finding it appealing, he slammed it shut and tossed it on the desk carelessly. It landed with a loud thump.

"Nothing, I guess. Your selection of Cabal material is really lacking."

"I believe it's non-existent, actually. I wasn't aware of the Cabal until a few months ago."

"No one is. No one who's not already involved in the Shadow War, at least." The Shadow War; she had heard that term before. She intended to question him about it, but as her life wasn't in immediate danger anymore it all seemed inconsequential at the moment. She made a mental note to ask him later. Right now she wanted to know what had happened to Kurtis; where he disappeared off to.

Unwrapping her head, she began to towel her hair dry and watch Kurtis. He wasn't looking at her, but rather was taking in her library. She imagined he thought it was exorbitant, he just seemed the type to like simple things, but truth be told she knew very little about the man; not even his last name.

It was her that broke the silence first. "What happened to you?"

"With that mutant?" he responded, finally looking at her again. "I thought I had finished her, but turns out she wanted seconds. She got me from behind but I got her head." he said as he unclasped his disc and waved it at her.

"Got you from behind?" she questioned.

He stood up then, and lifted his shirt up so Lara could see an oval shaped scar in the middle of his stomach. It was about the size of a lime and still raw pink. Lara examined it curiously, wondering why he was showing her something that was obviously an old wound. When she was about to ask what the meaning of it was, Kurtis turned around then to show another, larger copy of the scar on his back, the same rough pink color. This one appeared fresher, somehow. She inadvertently sucked in a breath at the sight of it and her hand went to her waist, as if she could feel it as well.

"That's the same wound!?" she asked him incredulously.

"Bitch had a stinger. Like I said, got me from behind." he said nonchalantly.

"It goes straight through you! That was only months ago, how is it you ran my assault course without spilling your intestines everywhere?"

Kurtis shrugged and dropped the hem of his shirt, turning to face her. "Guess I'm better than you thought?"

Crossing her arms to show she was meant business, Lara leveled him with a stern gaze. "Seriously, Kurtis, explain yourself."

He hedged as he sat back down. "It's... weird."

"Stranger than your flying disc? Than you blasting away doors with your hands in the Louvre, or somehow launching me up into the air 15 feet by yourself?"

He shook his head. "No, probably on the same level. After I got stabbed, I dragged myself somewhere to recover."

"I searched for you at all the hospitals in the area. Where did you go?"

A mirthful smile crept across his face. "I'm touched. But I didn't go to a hospital. I holed up in a dump and slept it off. Now I'm all better." he said, stretching his hand out before him, as if explaining a perfectly ordinary thing. He leaned back in the chair, balancing it on its hind legs, and propped his boots on the desk. Lara frowned at this.

"I take it you used some of your... magic to speed the process along? All that blood on the floor..." she trailed off, remembering the big puddle, and his bladed disc humming in her hands, urging her forward.

"It's not 'magic'," he said dismissively, "but yeah. I was basically in a coma for a couple months as my body repaired itself."

"And now you're all better." Lara said skeptically.

"Now I'm all better" he copied.

"So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company then? I take it you're not here on a social visit."

"You're right. I came to get my Chirugai back." he said, tapping the side of his bladed disc which was hanging from his belt again.

"And now you have," she said, feeling a wave of unexplained disappointment. So he was just here for his weapon, nothing else. Why did that bother her? She brushed aside the feelings and told herself to just be grateful she at least learned what happened to him, versus wondering for the rest of her life whether he had died or not.

Kurtis continued, acting like he didn't notice her change of tone. "Those Periapt Shards would be great too. They _are_ an ancient weapon of the Lux Veritatis. I can't just leave them with any old grave robber, you know." he added, tongue-in-cheek. _He must have done his homework on me_ , she thought. Though it wouldn't have been hard to find the most basic information about her on the internet, as she was well-known in explorer/adventurer circles, it still made her feel...something, imagining him typing her name in an internet search bar with intent to learn more about her.

"I resent that title." she said stiffly. "Anyway, I don't have them. They went AWOL at the Strahov" she said, mimicking Kurtis' words from the airlock at the Strahov.

"What?" he said, letting the chair legs snap back to the floor as he sat up straight. "Tell me you aren't serious!"

Feeling defensive, she stood and paced away from him. _How dare he raise his voice at me!_ "Well, I didn't do it to spite you!"

"Lara, I need them! What happened to them?"

She turned slowly, realizing she hadn't yet told Kurtis what all transpired after Eckhardt's lab, with Karel and the Sleeper. With a sigh, she started to make her way for the door. "Come on then, I'll have Winston put the kettle on whilst we discuss this."

Kurtis stood and followed her. "Who's Winston?"

"My butler."

" _You have a butler?"_

* * *

Lara and Kurtis went down to the kitchen and sat at the breakfast table, where Winston served them tea and shuffled about until Lara dismissed him, wishing for some privacy. It wasn't as though the butler wasn't aware of the dangers of his employer's former occupation, but in this case the situation involved another who might not see it that way. Once alone, Lara told Kurtis everything that had transpired since she left him to fight Boaz: how she almost killed Eckhardt until Karel stopped her and did it in her stead, then revealed himself as a Nephilim and asked her to join him. How he showed he could shift his form, how she figured out he was likely responsible for at least some of the Monstrum murders, and how she used the Sanglyph to destroy the Sleeper which caused an explosion, forcing her to abandon the arena.

"So you left the Periapt Shards in Eckhardt's body. Christ, they're probably long gone by now..." Kurtis said wearily and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Excuse me? I was a bit busy at the time. If you hadn't so nobly decided to stay behind and fight Boaz, you might have got them back yourself." she defended herself.

"Yeah, well, sorry for saving your skin. Next time I won't bother." he snapped back. He stood up, the chairs legs scraping against the linoleum harshly, and he walked to the kitchen counter. He leaned against it and began rummaging through his pockets. Lara noticed he barely touched his tea, poor thing drowned in milk. _Americans,_ she sighed to herself.

Pulling a cigarette pack and lighter out, Kurtis addressed her. "So I suppose there's no hope you somehow managed to stab Karel with the Shards before blowing up the place?" He put the cigarette to his lips and lit it.

"No... and not in the house, dear." she replied sarcastically, indicating the smoke trailing from his fag. Kurtis walked out the back door to the right of him, and Lara followed close behind. Inhaling deeply on the butt, he released a cloud of smoke and Lara had to turn away to keep from coughing. _What a nasty habit_ , she thought. _It's a shame because he would be rather attractive without it._

"The only way to kill a Nephilim is by stabbing them with all three Shards." Kurtis said after another puff.

Lara turned to him sharply. "But I destroyed the Sleeper with the Sanglyph. The Sleeper is a Nephilim, no?"

" _Sleeping_ Nephilim. Their powers are dormant, that's why you were able to destroy it without the Shards. But Karel is awake and active. That's why the Cabal wanted to revive them so badly: they'd be pretty much invincible once awake."

Lara closed her eyes. "So Karel's not dead." Dread settled deep in the pit of her stomach. She took a breath, then another, and counted to five in her head. She had read about the technique in some psychobabble book about coping with post-traumatic stress that Father Dunstan had left her, which after a quick skim-through soon took its permanent residence in the rubbish bin. The technique was supposedto relax her, bring her mind to focus, but it didn't help at all. Likewise the amulet that usually hung around her neck was silent and cold. _When would this be over?_ She wondered _,_ _When will I finally be free of this?_ Even from the grave Werner continued to ruin her life.

"How much time do we have?" She asked and looked at him. He stared off into the distance, looking every bit his age. When she first saw him in the Louvre she initially thought he was much younger. His playful expression and cocky smile, combined with how he sprinted through the place like it was a game of tag had given her an impression of youthfulness. Now looking at him this closely, she could see the crows feet beginning to deepen at the corner of his eyes, see the burden of hunting down the Cabal weighing on his shoulders.

"Until he's up and ready for round two? No telling. Three months have already passed, but with the Sleeper destroyed and half the Cabal dead that definitely puts a kink in his plans. He's probably off somewhere licking his wounds."

"Could we go back to the Strahov? See if the Shards are still there?" she asked.

Kurtis shook his head. "No, if Karel's alive, which I'm positive he is, he would have taken them. He's too smart to make a rookie mistake like leaving them lying around, especially if he's so far been clever enough to play everyone around him like he has."

Lara sighed. "This is just.. _lovely._ "

"You can say that again." Dropping his spent cigarette to the ground, he stomped out the flame with the heel of his boot. Standing this close to him, Lara could smell the fresh smoke, old sweat, and faint hint of beer that clung to him. While not exactly an attractive combination, it was a masculine one, and nevertheless she had to stop herself from leaning in closer to him. That old familiar feeling blossomed in the center of her gut, reminding her of the first time she locked eyes with him in the Louvre. Never minding the gun that was pressed to her neck, she had found herself leaning in towards his face, mesmerized by him: his scent, his piercing blue eyes, the way his tousled bangs hung down his face...

"Hey," Kurtis said and brought her back to the present. "Thanks for giving me back my Chirugai."

"Your what?"

"My weapon." he clarified, tapping the bladed disc at his hip once more.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You could have knocked, you know. It isn't always necessary to sneak up on me."

Kurtis grinned. "Yeah, but it _is_ more fun." She felt herself fighting a grin.

"Well.. it's good to see you alive." When he raised his brows at this, she quickly added, "I mean, it's nice that not everyone I came into contact with during this debacle died because of me."

He gave her a peculiar look, his eyes sweeping her face as if trying to read her. "I'm happy you're alive too."

"That's _not_ what I said..!"

Ignoring her protests, Kurtis walked back inside the kitchen to the breakfast table, took hold of his now cold cup of tea and downed it in one go. Lara wrinkled her nose at his back. _Disgusting._

"Well I'm gonna head out now. Got some business to tend to." He said lightly and set the cup back down.

"Is that business tracking down Karel?"

"Maybe."

"Kurtis..." she began, but before she could continue he interrupted.

"Don't say it," he waved his hand at her like shooing off a fly. His voice was tense. "This isn't your fight. Judging by the fact you're here instead of still in Prague, I'm assuming whatever ' _personal reasons_ ' you had for being involved in the first place are settled now, yeah? So there's no need to re-involve yourself now. Just relax and forget all about it. Enjoy your sprawling manor and accumulated wealth."

Irritated at his condescending dismissal, Lara frowned. "How can you say that? I'm already involved. Karel didn't seem exactly thrilled that I threw his offer back in his face. You're telling me that lunatic is still out there, and I'm to do nothing?"

He shook his head in exasperation. "Listen. You aren't Lux Veritatis. You aren't Cabal. You aren't Nephilim. This isn't your war, Lara."

"And it's yours?" she asked doubtingly.

Kurtis looked away at this. His face went dark and solemn briefly, like a flash. "Yeah." Without another word he proceeded to walk to the main entrance of the manor, Lara hot on his heels, irritation having now grown to incensement. It was as though he was downplaying how much Lara helped him in Paris and Prague. _He basically ro_ _de_ _my_ _coattails all the way to the Strahov, and now he_ _'s_ _acting_ _as if_ _he c_ _an_ _do it all by himself_.

"If you're telling me this out of some sort of misguided attempt to protect me..." she started.

"I'm not, don't worry about that. I know you can take care of yourself." He stopped at the door with his hand on the knob, twisting but then releasing it. He turned and faced her again, his face a mask of indifference. "Fine. If you really want to help, I'm headed to Castle Kriegler in Germany."

"And what will you be doing there?"

"Looking for clues." He opened the door, and with a two-fingered salute, walked out of the manor leaving Lara behind.


	3. Bloodline

**~ 2 : Bloodline ~**

* * *

Castle Kriegler was a decrepit old place, resembling the Hohenzollern castle if it had had a bombed dropped on it and been left unattended to ever since. Lara had done as much research on the place as she could before having a chartered helicopter fly her to the perimeter, but nothing she read gave her any indication as to why this place would hold any answers. From what she had read, Castle Kriegler was the ancestral seat of the Imperial House of Kriegler, but during WWII an Allied bomber had accidentally bombed it instead of their target, and the remaining descendents of the Kriegler house either died during the war or went missing, leaving no one to claim the castle. So the castle had remained in its rubbled state ever since.

What this had to do with Karel she had no idea. Her best bet would be to do some digging and find Kurtis who could give her some answers. Unfortunately he hadn't left her with any means to get in touch with him before leaving, probably assuming she'd happily fly across Europe to do his bidding. Which she did end up doing, but still; he didn't need to start getting bossy with her. She was doing this because she _had_ to, not because she _wanted_ to. She had hung up her guns after Egypt, and except for the minor hiccup of clearing her name and finding Werner's murderer, she was done with this lifestyle. She had done a poor job of finishing things and she set out to correct it, that was all.

It was bright and cool out; the sun was just past high noon, and the air on the warm side for a mid-February day. A dim light through a window on the first floor beckoned Lara. As she neared, she saw the open window was really just broken stain glass of what had likely been a scene from Calgary, but the accumulation of dirt and grime and shattered missing pieces made it unclear. Climbing through, careful not to snag her coat, Lara entered into what was once a dining room. A long table and dining chairs scattered nearby it, with a single torch lit above of the mantel of the fireplace; the dim light she had seen from outside. She wondered if it was Kurtis' doing, or if someone else was here.

Continuing through the double doors at the end she came into a sitting room. Dust overlay every surface and the red velvet of the chairs looked faded and crusty. She spent some time skimming the titles of the books on the few bookcases against the walls, but her German was minimal and she didn't see anything of interest. There was a lit torch on the wall in this room too.

She then entered a hall with a single torch lit all the way at the end. She gathered it wasn't a coincidence, so she strode to the very end where the torch was and opened the door nearest it. It was a library, brightly lit by the glowing fireplace and lanterns hanging from the wall. The fire in the fireplace was roaring; it was recently lit. Lara began skimming the books here. _None of these books have anything to do with the Cabal, either, from what I can tell. But whoever was here before lit this whole room up versus just one torch; they obviously didn't just pass through._

In the middle of the library was an ornate desk with papers atop it still strewn. Lara examined them; they were mostly notes, some hand-written poems. One in particular stuck out to her. It was a single loose-leaf paper with nothing but the words " _Das Licht der Wahrheit"_ scrawled in the top right corner.

 _The Light of Truth,_ Lara thought. _This wouldn't have anything to do with the 'Lux Veritatis' would it?_ But that was all that was written on the paper. She began scanning the book spines for clues again. None seemed relevant but when she reached the bookshelf to the left of the fireplace, there it was: A book titled " _Das Licht der Wahrheit"_. She reached to take it, but it wouldn't slide out. She yanked it and it 'clicked'. The fireplace began to swivel and opened halfway, revealing a dark stone spiral staircase leading down. Lara retrieved a flare from her backpack, lit it, and descended.

At the bottom she heard a noise and drew her guns, rounding a corner to find Kurtis there, standing with his back to her, facing a barred door.

"Kurtis!" she sighed in surprise, holstering her weapons.

"Took you long enough." he replied, not bothering to look back.

"Might have made it here sooner, had I been informed of what time I was expected to make an appearance." she said sarcastically.

"That would be because I'd've preferred you not come, but I figured you're too stubborn to listen to a reasoned argument. Now stop checking out my ass and help me with this."

Ignoring his quip, she looked around the room. "What is this place? Why are we here?"

Kurtis turned to address her. "This place used to be a Lux Veritatis stronghold. Eckhardt was imprisoned underneath it for near 500 years, until a bomb was dropped on it and freed him."

"And what is it you think we'll find here?"

"Answers, hopefully. Like if there's a way to stop Karel without the Shards. After it was bombed and the Order – the Lux Veritatis, that is – started being methodically hunted down, the Cabal used it as headquarters and performed experiments here."

"Experiments? You mean the Strahov wasn't the only one?"

"No, the Strahov was only one of many. The Cabal has – or had – many different headquarters and compounds active at any given time. That way if one is captured all they gotta do is pack up and move to the next. They either transform our strongholds into theirs or they completely raze it so we can't use it again. "

"And how did this happen? Here, I mean."

"Treason in the ranks. The Order had dominated the Cabal for 500 years, killing all Cabal members except Eckhardt who was imprisoned here, and almost completely wiping out the Nephilim. It wasn't until a bomb was 'accidentally' dropped that he was free to start rebuilding the Cabal. During those 500 years the Order got complacent. They weren't prepared for what he had in store. He picked them and their families off, one by one. Members were reluctant to have children and place that burden on them, the numbers continued to dwindle. Many put their wives and children into hiding. I hid too, I ran away from my father and joined the Foreign Legion, changed my name. It's why my father is dead and not me."

"How many of you are left?" She asked, speculating if they'd be able to get help from his Order.

"I'm the last." he answered plainly.

Lara's eyes widened, but she didn't know what to say. Instead she chose the safe option of changing the subject. "What is it you need help with? You can't open that door yourself?" she snarked.

Kurtis looked at her a moment longer, but then answered. "Take a look," he said, stepping aside from the door slightly. Lara walked up and looked through the grating as he did and saw it. The narrow hall ahead was clearly rigged with booby traps. Giant blades hung poised above, barely concealed by myriad of cobwebs, ready to swing down and cut someone in two. Along the floor were suspicious holes: _Fire_ , Lara thought. And those were just the ones they could see from the door.

Kurtis strained his neck to look beside her, and he was so close his breath tickled her cheek. "I _should_ be able to disable them with my powers. I've never actually done something like this before so I'm not sure."

"In any case," Lara said stepping back, "we should act like they're live."

"So what's the plan?" Kurtis asked, looking at her expectantly.

She, in turn, looked at him confused. "The plan? We run through and don't die."

"That's... insane."

Lara raised her eyebrows at him. "It's yet to let me down."

"That's all you do? Jesus, woman, how have you survived this long?"

Placing her hands on her hips and smirking, she teased him. "Are you scared?"

"Of course not." he said confidently. But as he glanced back through the bars into the next room, his eyes belied his words.

"Well then, no time like the present." she declared cheerily.

Kurtis kicked the door down and led the way bravely, as if to reassure her he was in fact not scared at all. As the duo neared the first trap – a large ax poised to fall – Lara placed a hand on his arm gently. He stopped, and taking a deep breath, raised one hand palm-out towards the ax, as if he was holding it up.

Lara quickly sprinted past it and nothing happened. It didn't fall.

"Hey it worked!" Kurtis declared disbelievingly, and started to walk through when the ax cut off Lara's vision. "Holy shi-"

"Careful!" she chastised. The ax slammed into the floor, causing it to vibrate. The sounds of gears and pulleys being activated echoed in the hall, and the ax slowly began its ascension back up, where once at its starting position, fell again.

Kurtis watched the blade cautiously, and right as soon as it passed his head he ran over to Lara's side. "So I guess it didn't work."

The two passed easily through two more blade traps until they reached the holes in the ground. "Pretty sure fire is likely to shoot up out of these," she said. Kurtis was breathing deeply beside her, clearly on an adrenaline high from the danger, but to her they were a piece of cake. She examined the holes from afar and the remaining hallway until she felt she had a decent grasp on the situation ahead. "Alright," she started, catching his attention. "The spacing between fire pits are too close. If we're caught between them when they go off it's not going to be pretty. We can't go at once either for the same reason."

"OK. I'll go first."

Lara eyed him distrustfully. "Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "No." But before she could protest any further he took off at a sprint through the center of the columns of pits, and as he went by each one huge spirals of fire shot up, blackening the ceiling and their circumferences nearly touching.

"Stop at the water!" Lara called out as he ran. They didn't know what lied beyond it yet.

As commanded he stopped at the edge and turned to face her. He appeared unscathed from her position. The thing with going second was, that the fire pits kept going off at intervals once triggered. So Lara had to watch them go off and on a few times to get the timing right. She ran just as the first one was about to go off and continued at a quick, steady pace until she cleared them and was by Kurtis' side.

The next section contained a basic booby trap: darts shooting across the room. The set up resembled a trap Lara maneuvered through at the Great Wall of China. A shallow pool of water with dart traps set to go off at waist level across it. However this one differed in one way: The exit was too far above the water level to pull oneself out, and there were darts under the water as well. She looked along the walls and saw the rocky crags jutting out from the walls in seemingly random intervals.

"Looks like we'll have to climb those to reach the exit." She said pointing to the wall and tracing in the air the way they would go. Kurtis had what sounded like a sigh of relief.

"Good. I hate swimming." he muttered. She stored this piece of information way.

The two climbed with Lara leading the way. Being the more agile one, she made her jumps and leaps gracefully and with little noise. In contrast, Kurtis banged every which way and the sounds of his boots colliding with stone echoed throughout the room. He had stamina and strength, but he lacked finesse.

"Are all your ancestor's this obsessed with guarding their property?" Lara asked.

"I can't blame them for wanting to keep our artifacts out of the hands of someone like you." he teased.

Something occurred to her. "So, what would you have done had I not showed up, back at the Louvre?"

Kurtis watched her impeccably land a jump at a downward angle. "Wait for Eckhardt's men to get the painting, then take it from them."

"You mean, wait for someone else to do all the hard work for you, then steal the prize right out of their backpack?" she asked sarcastically.

"Still sore about that, huh?" he sniggered. Lara huffed and made the next jump. "I'll have you know," he continued, following behind her. "Getting away from you was the hardest I worked that whole day."

" _That's_ reassuring."

"Why steal from booby-trapped tombs when I can steal from you?"

"Everyone's using me for my skills." she muttered under her breath.

"I'll make it up to you," Kurtis said, looking up at her from a lower platform. "You can use me any time you want." he smirked, then took a running jump and grabbed the ledge of the platform she stood on.

Lara peered down at him. "You're lucky I don't kick you off that ledge."

He pulled himself up. "I was talking about my powers." he said with mock innocence.

* * *

The next room they entered had an enormous statue in the middle of it, nearly 40 meters, of what Lara assumed was a demon. It sat on a throne with a sword between its legs, penetrating the floor. It was adorned with a pointed crown and billowing robes, but it's fingers were like claws and its eyes were of a beast's. "It's a Lux Veritatis knight. He's meant to guard the castle from Nephilim."

Lara thumbed the pistols on her hips and eyed the statue warily. "It's not going to come alive, is it?"

Kurtis looked at her blankly. "It's a statue."

They walked around the figure towards the door. "It wouldn't be the first time. Your knight friends were quite persistent in guarding the paintings."

"...Right."

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy. I bet there's a couple around here; you'll see."

The next room was another circular room with normal human sized thrones situated all along the perimeter of the room. They were all empty save for one, with a skeleton dressed in knight's armor and a sword sitting in it. As the two moved further into the room Lara could see plaques underneath each seat, and on each plaque was a different surname. Many appeared to be the same names from the Vault of Trophies. Aicard, Montségur, Limoux, Vasiley, Heissturm...

As they reached the center of the room the dead knight rose and shuffled towards them, dragging its sword behind it.

"I told you so," Lara said, drawing her pistols and taking aim.

Kurtis grabbed her arm. "Hold on a sec, will ya? Why are you going to shoot him?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Why! - maybe because it has a sword and is coming after us?"

The knight drew closer. "It's his job to protect the place. _You're_ the intruder."

Her voice rose an octave. "Are you seriously lecturing me right now?"

"Look, he's stopped." He pointed and indeed, the skeleton had stopped advancing. He stood a few feet away, shaking slightly as if he were drawing breath, and seemed to be staring them down though he had no eyes.

"I don't like the way it's looking at us. And for the record, these things have always attacked me. This is the first time one has just...stopped and stared."

Kurtis shrugged. "Maybe he knows I'm one of them."

Taking a couple steps away from the guard, her eyes swept the room. "What is this place?"

"I'd say it's a Bloodline Room."

She looked at him questioningly.

He shrugged again. "It doesn't mean anything to you." Moving over to a throne labeled 'Heissturm', Kurtis brushed the dust off the seat and sat down. "Hmm," he hummed, drumming his fingers on the armrests, "not exactly cozy."

Losing patience, Lara crossed her arms and began tapping her foot. "Shall we move on?"

"Wait a moment, would ya? Geez..." Kurtis closed his eyes and leaned back. What he was doing, Lara had no clue. When she was about to say something again, she noticed a faint blueish hue appear around him. A low hum filled the room and gradually got louder and louder, until it reached a crescendo, suddenly broke, and Kurtis cried out softly.

"Are you alright?" Lara called and rushed over to him. She checked him for injuries but he brushed her away. "What was that?"

Kurtis stood and lifted the hem of his shirt, exposing his torso. The Boaz scar was considerably fainter. It almost appeared years old now.

"This is my family throne. Bloodline room's are – were – used to heal serious wounds and restore - "he waved his other hand around searching for the word "- energy. I was kinda running on low power after fixing this thing myself." He dropped his shirt back down and Lara realized she had been staring. She averted her eyes in embarrassment.

"So you need to charge yourself when you run out of energy?" she asked hoping to divert his attention.

"No, it's not like that. It took a lot out of me to repair trauma of this magnitude, so it would have taken a while before my power was back at 100%; this basically just skipped me ahead to the part where I'm right as rain again."

"A handy appliance." she stated. "Does this mean I'll no longer have to play victim to your smug attitude?"

"Unfortunately it doesn't repair personality flaws. I'm sorry." Kurtis grinned cheekily. "Come on, I'm done here."

As they were leaving, the solitary knight returned to his throne. Kurtis paused briefly and glanced back at him, a concerned expression on his face. "Am _I_ gonna guard a vault when I die?" he murmured to himself.

* * *

 **A/N:** _A big thanks to Meldelen for beta-reading this story and all her encouragement. I'm eternally grateful._

 _I often listen to music when I write, and as a result, certain songs inspire scenes. When there's music I imagined or think would go well with a scene, I'll list it here at the bottom in the Author's Note and its corresponding section. All the music can be found on Youtube, so if you like you can listen along :)_

 _And of course, I appreciate and welcome any and all reviews :)_

 _~Clairesail_


	4. Secrets

**~ 3 : Secrets ~**

* * *

Lara and Kurtis' boots clomped against the stone floor, the only sound in the vast underground stronghold besides the soft burning of torches. The duo proceeded through several more hallways and innocuous rooms – no more dead knights approached them, seemingly trusting Kurtis's presence, much to Lara's annoyance. Why does everything have to attack _her_? They finally reached another spiral staircase and began climbing back up.

"Back up again?" Lara questioned. "Was there nothing else down here?"

"No, just the bloodline room. Everything else will be above ground. There might have been a relic or weapon housed here at some point, but it would've either been moved before the Cabal took over or stolen long after. Whatever else is down here isn't something you're meant to see." he said cryptically.

Lara felt wounded at the statement, which in turn annoyed her. "Was Eckhardt contained here?" she guessed, recalling their earlier conversation.

"Yeah."

A few minutes later, as she tried to imagine what the containment pit looked like, something occurred to Lara. "Is Heissturm your last name?"

"God, you're nosy." he muttered under his breath, but purposefully loud enough for her to hear. Before she could object he answered her question. "It was. I go by Trent now." Sensing he didn't want to speak of it anymore, Lara dropped the subject for now but stored away the information for later speculation; just another mystery to add to the pile.

When they finally make it to the top of the staircase they entered a room with rows of cots spread throughout. There were dark splotches of blood on some of them and quite a few were broken in two, shreds of linen strewn about. Out of the corner of Lara's eye she saw Kurtis draw his Boran X from its holster and she cautiously hovered her palms over her firearms at her hips. She too felt ill at ease in this room. One of the cots held a corpse on it. As she drew nearer she saw it looked fresh – or at the least – it wasn't decomposing as it should. Besides it being preserved, the entirety of its right half were covered in shiny grey metallic extrusions resembling crystal shards. They appeared to sprout out of the man's body. It reminded her of something she saw in Paris, but what...

"A victim of Eckhardt's experiments." Kurtis said solemnly, interrupting her thoughts.

"What happened to him?"

"Don't know. Let's keep looking."

They came across a room that was a combination of laboratory and morgue next. An examination table was center place surrounded by utensil carts, overhead exam lights, and more ominous blood streaks. Two of the walls were filled top to bottom with large metal drawers like in a morgue, one fully glass, and the last was the one with the door and nothing else.

"Not a sterile operation, it seems." Lara commented dryly. Kurtis pulled out one of the drawers on the wall and was assaulted by the stench of rotting flesh.

"Ugh!" he covered his nose with his shirt collar and turned to her. She looked over at the contents of the drawer and wrinkled her nose. Another corpse - this one decaying - with its entire head covered in a layer of what must have been melted metal. Kurtis quickly closed the drawer again to keep from more of the smell escaping. The pair went to move onto the next room that they could see through the glass.

A crumbling sound reverberated in the walls and ceiling for a few moments before stopping. Small pebbles of stone and dust fell, sprinkling them. The adventurer swept a bang out of her eyes and glanced at Kurtis. He gripped his Boran X tightly and nodded for them to continue.

The office space appeared to be the crux of the operation. Filing cabinets full of notes, vials of blood samples, folders full of patient histories – it was all there. As they began sifting through the contents, Lara wondered why this information was left behind; whether they were forced to leave in a hurry or whether it simply was not needed anymore. The fact that they left a morgue presumably full of dead bodies behind instead of burning or burying them spoke to the reason being the former. But with all but one Lux Veritatis dead, she couldn't imagine who or what else would have driven them away.

"Have a look at his, Kurtis," Lara called quietly. He stopped his rummaging and came up to stand behind her, and peered over her shoulder, translating the scientists notes from German to English out loud as he read:

" _Subject name_ _Morgau Vasiley._ _Born 198_ _3_ _in_ _Huskvarna,_ _Sweden. Daughter of Mathias Vasiley,_ _mother unknown_ _. Possibly last Lux Veritatis initiate."_ Kurtis's furrowed his brow but continued.

 _"Morgau has been most successful subject of Master Eckhardt's Alchemical Vivisection and Augmentation Program (AVAP). She is the first to survive the_ _experiments_ _with her facilities intact, and indeed is stronger for it. Healing abilities are faster than ever, taking mere minutes to complete. Her skills are compounded by M_ _aster_ _Eckhard_ _t_ _'s alchemical corselet. Possible complications arise from her vulnerability due to the corselet keeping her alive. Suspicions that she will also suffer from metallic extrusions exist. M_ _aster_ _Eckhardt hopeful that she will survive long enough to be useful._

 _Following 96 hours in the containment pit she is now agreeable and like a loyal puppy dog to M_ _aster_ _Eckhardt. She will be useful in translating the Sleeper Scrolls once they are obtained."_

Kurtis paused and his eyes widened. "The Sleeper Scrolls! I had forgotten about them _."_ He continued to read from the file:

 _"Her own father appeared to have injected her with specialized elixirs to prolong her life. They likely are the cause of her volatile nature. Many members of Gunderson's Agency refuse to work with her and Gunderson himself has reported her to be a 'pain' and 'unreliable', especially in a team setting."_

 _"_ Look at this." Lara said pointing to a paragraph at the bottom of the page. " _Metal_ _lic_ _extrusions appear to be inevitable result of alchemically exchanging natural bodily fluids with metal ones in an attempt to enhance the subject. In order to perform alchemical improvements, (i.e. alter DNA and chromosomal makeup for superiority and enhancement) an equivalent exchange must be made. The weak components are exchanged with alchemically composed ones and the resulting conclusion is always, with the exception of_ _Vasiley_ _,_ _the subject eventually being overtaken with metallic extrusions and suffocating_ _to death_ _."_ A thought just occurred to her. "That's where I saw that before; one of Bouchard's men in Paris had these sort of wounds. It looked like it would be a slow and painful death."

Kurtis brushed past her and the contact sent shivers down Lara's arms. She mentally cursed her body for reacting that way around him. He picked up a stack of folders and started shuffling through them.

"I recognize her father's name." She continued. "He was a victim of Eckhardt's glove. He had a flat in Prague, but that was months ago. Anything still useful to us is likely gone by now, confiscated by the police or the Cabal."

Kurtis nodded. "So we'll keep it on the back burner, in case we have no other leads."

Lara picked up the folder and looked through it some more. "Do you think she's dead?" she asked.

"All the other subject files state the date, time, and cause of death at the end. So maybe not..."

"I take it you don't recognize her name?"

He was still frowning. "Never heard of her." he reached into his back pocket and retrieved a cigarette and lit it up. "Check if it mentions any aliases she used." Annoyed, Lara waved a hand in front of her to dispel the smoke but otherwise did what he asked.

"Here. Annessa Chimoya? Says that's what she used with the Agency..." her voice trailed off when she saw the look on Kurtis' face. His eyes had widened only infinitesimally, but it was enough to tell her he recognized _that_ name. However, he seemed not to be interested in letting her in on the secret. "Kurtis?"

He jerked his head up to look at her and stood up straight, inhaling deeply on the butt. "What?" he asked around a mouthful of smoke.

"Who is she?"

"No one, just -" he paused and rubbed his forehead with the hand holding the cigarette. "- this chick, she worked for the Agency the same time I did, probably still does... I had no idea her father was in the Order, I … _shit_." he cursed, noticing the change in Lara's countenance, which was becoming more severe by the second.

She carefully placed her hands on the butt of her dual pistols and backed up slowly. " _You worked for Gunderson?"_ she whispered. She felt shocked, then betrayed, and it only just occurred to her that she really didn't know this man _at all_. She learned his real last name less than an hour ago and now she learned he had at one point worked for the enemy. It was possible he could still be working for them. The memory of Karel's pale flesh morphing and shaping into Kurtis' handsome likeness came back to her, deriding her trust: _"_ _I've helped you all along, both here and in Paris. You can trust me, Lara Croft."_ Instinctively she shuddered and took another step back, freed her pistols from their holsters and aimed them at him, but kept her fingers off the triggers.

"Calm down; you're not going to shoot me." he said harshly.

"The only reason I haven't yet is because I haven't figured out _why_ you had me come here."

"Take it easy," he said, putting his hands palm-out like he was talking down a spooked horse. "I'll explain when you put those things away."

"I'll put them away after you explain yourself." she snapped, but when she saw his palms there was no symbol etched in the skin like Karel had.

"Listen -" Kurtis was cut off by the rumbling sound in the walls again, this time deafening. Suddenly a large man-like creature came crashing through the ceiling. It had elongated arms and metal crystal-like shards poking from its chest. The thing leaped at Kurtis immediately and Lara began firing at it without hesitation. The bullets sunk into its body, but the creature seemed to be barely phased by it as it continued to swipe at Kurtis with its claws. He simultaneously hopped back and drew his gun and started shooting it. With a roar, the creature switched targets and ran after Lara. She did a back flip over the desk, but the creature's unnaturally long arms whacked one of the guns out of her hand. Put off balance by the hit, she stumbled her landing against the office chair and fell, crashing to the ground in a cascade of papers.

The monster jumped atop the desk and reared its arm back, preparing to strike. Just as the thing went to attack, a whirling sound thundered in her ears and the monster's head fell down and rolled by her face. She grimaced at its grotesque visage and jerked away, as the remainder of its body crumpled in a heap on the desk. The Chirugai danced by and looped back around, returning to its master's outstretched hand. This close, Lara could clearly see what it was: Metallic-glinted blood poured from its neck cavity, it was hairless, and the irises were pitch black. Upon inspection its arms were extended with metal filaments at the joint, and its fingernails were overgrown into claws with silver tips.

Catching her breath, she looked up to see Kurtis extending a hand. She could easily fit her fingers right between his and was sorely tempted to do so, but instead she stood on her own and mentally scolded herself for daydreaming about holding hands like a little girl. _Have I hit my head_ , she wondered. After all she hadn't decided yet that she could trust him, never mind that he just saved her life. But it was clear, at the very least, that this man was not Karel in disguise.

"Looks like not all the experiments died." she stated, and retrieving her other pistol, holstered her weapons once more. "Care to explain yourself now, so I can get back to trusting you?"

"I changed my name to Trent when I joined the Foreign Legion, to get away from all this. But no matter how hard I tried, weird things... strange happenings kept finding me anyway. Things like this guy down here." He nudged the creature with his boot toe. "I stayed in for the minimum five years to receive French citizenship and then left, did some freelancing stuff... Yes, I worked for Gunderson." she cocked an eyebrow at him and he quickly continued before she could interrupt, "But the thing is, the Agency pretty much has a monopoly on freelancers when it comes to security work, retrieval jobs, mercenary work and the like. They pay the best. Anyone in Europe who's worked in the field of killing for money has at one point worked for the Agency. It's just how it is. But that's not to say I wasn't aware that the Agency was a front for the Cabal." He began pacing. "To defeat your enemy you gotta know them, right? By working for them in all their different sectors I got to know their operations intimately. It's how I knew they were making a move on the Louvre when they did. I was aware of all their dealings but they didn't even know I existed – not as a Lux Veritatis, that is – they only saw me as Vance Renner, gun for hire."

Lara chewed on her lip, thinking it over. "I see; that sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation. So you used an alias and were able to work unnoticed."

"Same as this Morgau – except I'd guess her working for the Agency is scripted on their part. I definitely remember Annessa Chimoya. We'll need to take care to avoid her, _if_ she's still alive," he said, gesturing to the beheaded monster at their feet. "She had a reputation; many of the guys I knew who worked with her said she was a crazy bitch."

"If Karel's kept her alive, then it sounds like they have an ace up their sleeve. What are the Sleeper Scrolls, Kurtis?" she asked, remembering the folder on Morgau mentioning them and Kurtis' exclamation.

"Ancient encrypted documents detailing Order secrets. The most notable being where the remaining two Nephilim Sleepers are buried. It can only be translated by a Lux Veritatis Adept or Initiate who's been trained."

"So _if_ Karel has the Sleeper Scrolls, he knows where the other two Nephilim are hidden. Why hasn't he awakened them yet?"

" _If_ he has them, I'm not sure," Kurtis shrugged. "My guess is there's a certain ritual he has to perform to wake them that's he's not ready for yet."

"Why do you think that?"

"Eckhardt was only human – immortal, but still human. He needed to create the Sanglyph so he could wake them up and control them. But a Nephilim doesn't need to use alchemy."

"So there's another way? The whole while Eckhardt was planning to revive them he had no idea one of them was right under his nose the whole time. Karel used him."

"Karel used all of us. Nephilim are experts in deception; they're master manipulators. We need to be absolutely careful in dealing with him." he warned.

"So if Karel had the Sanglyph he could hypothetically wake the Sleepers the same way Eckhardt intended to."

"Yes."

"Well, then it's a good thing I have it."

"You kept it? Why didn't you say that before?" he asked accusingly, though his tone held no bite.

Lara shrugged. "You never asked about it." Truth be told, it _had_ occurred to her to mention it to him when he was at her house, but when he never brought it up, she figured it wasn't needed anymore and she was free to keep it. Now she was glad her kleptomaniacal tendencies had led to her keeping it, instead of leaving it behind in Prague.

Kurtis stared at her, mouth agape, then shook his head and smiled. "Nevermind that. This is great news. We can use it to destroy the others, like you did to the one in the Strahov. Now all we need are the Periapt Shards to kill Karel, and to find out where the Sleepers are buried."

Then the two carried on through the passageways, searching more clues.

* * *

 **A/N:** _I'm aware the ending cutscene of AOD does not show Lara keeping the Sanglyph, but I hope y'all will forgive me. I'm retconning that for my fic; instead of her leaving it on the Sleeper's body, she took it with her. Is it because I'm a lazy writer? Probably. The AOD storyline, as wonderful as it is, already had a few plot-holes and inconsistencies due to cuts and time-restraints, what's one more? Anyway, I'll try my hardest to make the rest consistent with canon._

 _For music, I think "The Accused" from the Angel of Darkness soundtrack by Peter Connelly goes well with this entire chapter._

 _Thank you for reading, I appreciate reviews and comments! :)_

 _~ Clairesail_


	5. Chamber of Oddities

**~ 4 : Chamber of Oddities ~**

* * *

They walked through the rest of the laboratory, keeping alert in case any other failed experiments with a grudge showed up. This part of the castle in the southern tower seemed to be more recently renovated – or at least, refurbished. Certain rooms were re-engineered for the Cabal's purposes, such as the morgue and main lab they had gone through, but others, such as patients rooms, were the same except for the cots and jury-rigged electrical lights hanging from the ceilings. However, the generator that kept the place running back in the day was either not turned on or nonfunctional, and so they had to light the lanterns on the walls as they went along or otherwise rely on the dim amount of light coming in through the windows.

They moved into another lab, but this one of alchemical purposes, not scientific. Beakers and potion books and a huge cage hung from the ceiling with a pit in the floor, identical to Eckhardt's lab under the Strahov.

"So the Sleeper Scrolls sound like the next clue." Lara said, flipping through a potion book. "Any idea where they'd be?"

"My bet would be the Château de Montségur in France. There's hidden galleries of Lux Veritatis tombs underneath it. I remember hearing about a library there full of Nephilim artifacts, the Sleeper Scrolls being one of them."

"Then what are we still doing here? Let's get going."

"Honestly I'm trying, but this place is kind of a maze. I'm not sure which is the quickest way out from where we are."

Strolling tantalizingly to him, she touched a fingertip to the end of his chin as she passed, the hairs from his goatee tickling her skin. "I'll lead the way," she teased.

* * *

They came across a passage to a different part of the castle. They walked into a huge room, possibly a ballroom in its heyday, with three long columns of glass cases like in a museum. They automatically split up and perused the collection. It struck Lara as being some sort of room of trophies or oddities, containing extremely life-like wax sculptures of people in various types of dress, some even with wounds.

A man dressed in medieval garb – tunic, sandals, and leather chest and shoulder armor with the LV symbol embossed on it – was positioned standing with a gaping hole in his chest and in his hand was clenched a rolled up message. His eyes were closed and face slack. He looked surprisingly real.

Just then a clatter echoed from behind. She turned to see Kurtis who had fallen to his knees staring up at one of the figures encased in glass. She rushed over and knelt by him. His pallor had turned ashen and he looked like he was going to be sick.

"Are you all right?" she asked and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Kurtis stared at the figure for a moment longer as if in a trance, then squeezed his eyes shut. She examined it: An elderly man with shoulder length salt and pepper hair and bushy beard slumped against a slab of rock. He was decked out in a long fur-trimmed coat, boots, and torn trousers. On one arm a small circular shield was strapped on and the other hung limply between his legs. All about his clothing were small rips and tears, and it was dirtied as well. But the disturbing part was his chest, which was cracked open at the ribcage but nothing was inside. It was like someone had scooped all of his organs out.

Lara had presumed these glass housed men to be wax sculptures, but Kurtis' reaction told her otherwise. It occurred to her only then that they must have been real, preserved somehow. Upon further examination of the man's face she sensed something familiar about him. His eyes, which were open, were a piercing icy blue. He had a strong brow and thick eyebrows. With a lump in her throat, she chanced a look at Kurtis. Smooth out the wrinkles, darken the hair, and he could be a younger version of this man. Or maybe...

"This is my father." Kurtis croaked. Taking a risk, Lara moved the hand that was on his shoulder onto his back and placed the other on his arm.

"He used to quote scripture to me ' _If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.'_ ...but then the idiot I am I go and run away... maybe if I had stuck around we could have killed Eckhardt together, maybe it wouldn't have ended like this... Our last conversation was an argument. I never made amends with him."

Lara wanted badly to comfort him, but she didn't know what to say or do. She had always been no good with that sort of thing.

"It doesn't do any good to think on it now," she said gently, and rose and took his hand. "Come on, let's leave this grisly scene."

Taking her hand, he stood, and after looking at his father one more time, turned to her. "Will you help me? With the body?"

She nodded. "What do you want to do?"

"Burn this whole fucking place down." he sneered.

Lara's eyes widened, but she couldn't disagree. The whole room was a disgusting display of depravity that was better off not existing. "We'll need an accelerant then... Let's start looking."

* * *

By the time they left the room, Kurtis had mostly composed himself but now carried himself with determination. They traveled farther west through the castle, searching along the way for gasoline or something to use to set fire to the grotesque Chamber of Oddities. They arrived in a grand hall with staircases on both ends, and lucky for them – a few kerosene lamps hanging from the walls. But there was no telling if the liquid would still be any good.

Then suddenly they heard the pounding of footsteps on the stone floor. Multiple footsteps, in a rhythm suggesting running. Lara and Kurtis looked at each other and hid behind a pair of couches in a recess of the room. The doors on either side of the staircases burst open, and through them and down the stairs came mercenaries. Their boots thundered through the hall heavily and their gloved hands grasped their FAMAS rifles tightly. Lara counted about ten in total. Over the radio that one of the men carried, they heard a gruff voice ask if the 'Croft woman' had been located yet. The merc answered that there was no sign of either her or Trent yet.

Kurtis looked at Lara. ' _Gunderson_ ' he mouthed, and she nodded in understanding. So the Cabal knew they would be here. _They must be tracking_ _our_ _moves_ , she thought.

She looked over to where Kurtis was crouched and saw he had his eyes squeezed shut and mouth pressed in a hard line. One of his hands was outstretched slightly. It was then she heard a commotion – a lantern fell from the wall and spilled oil everywhere. It hadn't been lit, however, and the only light in the hall was coming from the floor to ceiling windows at the top of the two-way stairs, shrouding the room in shadows and darkness.

The distraction seemed to work as most of the men either turned that way or walked over there. Lara quietly snuck up on the man closest to her and wrapping her arms around his neck, snapped it. At the same time Kurtis unleashed his Chirugai on another unsuspecting merc, stabbing him in the side of the head with it, killing him instantly.

Kurtis went over to retrieve his embedded weapon from the man's head, jerking it loose. Lara grabbed Kurtis by the shirt sleeve and dragged him over behind a bookcase just as another guard looked back and saw the corpses of two of his team members.

"HEY! Zu mir!" he shouted to his compatriots. "Sie sind hier drüben!" He brought his rifle to his shoulder and began advancing slowly, scanning the room down the sights of his barrel.

Lara looked to Kurtis. ' _What now?_ ' she asked with her eyes. She pointed to his Chirugai, silently asking if he could take out the guards with it.

He shook his head. Pointing at his eyes with his index and middle fingers, he indicated he needed to see them to hit them. _Makes sense_ , she thought.

Kurtis held up a finger, then brought up his hands, palms out, and closed his eyes. His head tilted back ever so slightly, and a hint of a sigh escaped his parted lips. _What on earth_ _is_ _he doing_ , she wondered, and looked around frantically for a backup plan. Just as she was about to shake him, he suddenly jerked back and opened his eyes.

' _Six_ _that way',_ he groggily motioned with his hands and pointed to her left. ' _Two this way_ ' he motioned to his right.

Drawing her guns, and Kurtis clutching his Chirugai, the pair sprinted down Kurtis' right. Lara provided suppressing fire and watched the mercs scatter like roaches for cover as Kurtis threw his bladed disc and beheaded the two that were in their way. With the path clear, they sprinted back out the door they came in from with a spray of bullets trailing their backs.

Hearing the pounding boots and shouts from behind them, they pushed themselves harder, faster. They bounded back through the Hall of Trophies, through Eckhardt's lab, and back into the eastern tower with the labs and exam rooms and patient's cots, ever the while hearing the footsteps behind them but always out of sight. Lara's side ached and her right ankle complained, and she reminded herself this was why her obstacle course practice was still necessary.

With Kurtis in the lead, they rushed down a long corridor in the labs, when suddenly a door to Lara's right burst open and two Agency mercenaries trampled through. One turned towards her and the other faced Kurtis, and raised his gun.

She shouted. "Behind you!" But the warning was too late. The merc closest to Lara tackled her before she could defend herself. Simultaneously, the other merc shot at Kurtis just as he was turning, hitting him in the left arm. The Lux Veritatis stumbled from the pain, unhooked his blade and threw it and with his other hand fired off at the man until he stood there, Chirugai sticking out of his face and chest cavity riddled with holes.

The dead merc slumped to the ground. Lara stood facing Kurtis with the other man using her as a shield, the bullpup rifle pressing into her soft underjaw.

The merc spoke, his voice a commanding bellow. "Keine Bewegung, oder die Frau sterbt! Be still!" He began to back away then, holding onto her still, moving slowly towards the door he came from. Kurtis stood stock still, his expression impassive, his other hand gripping the bullet wound in his arm. Blood seeped out from under his fingers. In the distance, Lara could hear the footsteps of the other hired goons drawing nearer. She gritted her teeth. They would capture them soon.

Just then Kurtis raised his bloodied hand at the man, who saw the motion and moved his rifle to shoot him, but froze upon hearing the words: " _Ex hostium vi mea vis maior_ ," spoken in a strained voice by Kurtis. The hostage-taker trembled as the other closed his fist then, fingers tightly curved as if holding an invisible ball. It seemed as if his fist began to glow then, if only for a brief second, before the glowing orb disappeared into his chest. The merc collapsed immediately as that happened, gun falling to the floor with a clang.

Without stopping to question it, Lara ran over to Kurtis as he extracted his blade from the dead merc's neck, and the pair raced off again, turning the corner just as the remaining men entered the corridor.

When they reached the lowest floor of the tower before the staircase leading to the underground dungeons, Kurtis grabbed Lara's arm and stopped her.

"Here!" he exclaimed and pointed to the diamond-pane window large enough to fit through. She ran over to the window and glanced down, and saw just how high they were from the ground. She calculated the distance was greater than she was comfortable making. What good would it do to escape if they were going to break their legs doing it?

"Too high!" she cried skeptically. But as she looked back, Kurtis was already running at her.

"Trust me!" He shouted. He grabbed onto her arm when he reached her and thrust his hand out right before hitting the glass, causing it to explode out. She bit back a scream as they leaped out, and tree branches whipped them in face and arms as the wind rushed past. Just as their feet were about to make impact, a gust of warm air blew up from below and when they landed, the impact was softened. Lara bent her knees and rolled on the landing and Kurtis grunted, his hands flattened out towards the ground.

Lara grabbed Kurtis by his shoulder rig and dragged him into the trees behind some shrubbery. From their hiding place they saw the soldiers above peer down from the broken window then move on when they saw no one on the ground.

Feeling a moment of relief, Lara let out a breath. She looked over at Kurtis. He had a hand to his head and looked winded, and the blood from his bullet wound had soaked through his jacket sleeve, but the spot wasn't spreading. She reached for it tentatively but he shook his head.

"Don't worry about it right now." he said, panting. Lara quirked an eyebrow at his macho display. "I'm fine, really." he said and waved a bloody hand at her.

" _Right_." she sighed. "You better not die on me. Once we're away from here I'm going to need you to explain everything you've just done in there. But for now, let's get out of here. What's the plan? I arrived here by helicopter; _that's_ obviously not a viable option right now." she said.

"Other side of the castle, near where you entered; my bike's hidden in the trees." he whispered. He urged her forward, and following closely behind, with his hand poised at the small of her back, they began making their way at at low crouch around the perimeter towards the west end, going from shrub to shrub, weaving through the trees and thickets.

All of a sudden Kurtis gripped her sleeve, prompting her to stop and look back at him.

"What are-" abruptly he pressed a hand to her mouth, shushing her. She tried to jerk away until she noticed the sound of boots treading on the dried grass. Kurtis pressed her to his body and slowly lowered themselves flat to the ground. His hand smelled sweaty, his body warm. She was acutely aware not just of the mercs walking by only mere meters away, but also of every place Kurtis' body was touching hers. His breath came out in quiet puffs by her ear, tickling it. She entertained scooting away from him - mercenaries be damned - but they were so close to escaping without a firefight it wasn't worth being stubborn over.

Kurtis removed the hand from her mouth then. "They're gone." he whispered in her ear, and began extracting himself from her body, seemingly unaffected by spooning her for the past few minutes. She wanted to push him over for his arrogance in thinking he could keep touching her that way. But when he didn't meet her glaring eyes, the moment passed and they continued on their way. They reached his motorbike, but before Lara climbed on he stopped her and told her to wait.

"Let me check the coast is clear." He did that strange thing again, holding his hands out in front with his eyes closed. When he came back to himself, he pressed a hand to his forehead briefly and shook his head.

"I don't see anyone in either direction. We should be good to leave without being detected."

"What was that? What were you doing?"

"I was seeing." he said plainly as he climbed on and patted the pillion seat.

"'Seeing'? What, through your hands?" Lara climbed on behind him and he fished the keys from his belt pouch.

"It's called 'Farsee'. I can extend my vision past my body, move it around and see things that are past my normal field of vision."

"Right. Another handy mechanism. You're full of surprises."

Kurtis looked over his shoulder at her, and revving the engine, he smirked and took her hand and wrapped it around his torso. They drove away.

* * *

Once they were out of sight of the castle, Lara shouted into his ear over the roar of the bike engine. "Where are we going?"

"I've a room at the nearest village." he shouted over his shoulder. "Too dangerous to stay there now."

"Okay."

They drove several kilometers before they came to a small village tucked between a mountain pass. Lara wasn't sure where they were, but the signs were still in German so they must have remained on that side of the border. Driving to France on the motorbike would be inconvenient at best, impossible at worst. Not even considering how much more gas they'd use, it would just be uncomfortable sitting on the back the whole time.

They pulled up in front of a two story stone-and-mortar home with a wooden gate. In one of the front windows a sign read " _Zimmer verf_ _ü_ _gbar_ ". Knocking the kick-stand out, Kurtis got off and opened the gate up easily before returning and pulling the motorcycle around the building to the back where a few other cars were parked. He cut the engine and stepped off. Lara got off, stretching her legs. She was going to be sore from that jump out of the castle window.

"Let me just grab my stuff from inside, pay, and we'll get out of here." Kurtis said.

"Your arm, Kurtis!" Lara exclaimed.

Following her eyesight, he looked at his left arm where he'd been shot, at the small bullet hole that penetrated his jacket and shirt. "I should probably clean that, huh?" he said casually.

Following Kurtis inside, she watched as an elderly man greeted him in the front room. "Grüß Gott." Kurtis repeated the greeting. The man looked at the pair of them with an eye of disdain, and she felt out of place. The man probably was not enjoying all the dirt they were tracking in, but they didn't have time to remove their shoes. Luckily they stashed their guns in her backpack, but she guessed walking about with empty holsters and a gunshot wound was only mildly comforting for civilians.

Bounding up the stairs they headed to a room in the back. It was furnished with a cot, armoire, and small nightstand. There was a large backpack on the floor, the kind that looked like it could convert to an over-the-shoulder bag, with its zipper open and clothing strewn about the floor. Kurtis began to remove his jacket while Lara took a medical kit from her backpack and prepared it. But when she saw him remove his shirt, she paused.

"What...happened?"

"Shit. I was afraid of that." Kurtis fingered the place the wound had been, smearing the blood around as he pressed and felt. There was no hole. "Give me a knife." He held out his hand.

"Weren't you shot in the arm?" she asked while she placed one in his waiting palm. She looked all around his torso but saw nothing other than some minor cuts and bruises.

He dipped the tip of the blade into his flesh, piercing it and releasing a fresh stream of blood. Seeing him grit his teeth, Lara quickly grabbed a piece of clothing from the floor and placed it in his mouth to bite down on. She guessed what he was doing: removing the bullet. After a little bit more digging, he withdrew the blade and spat out the cloth.

"Tweezers."

He started to take the tweezers from her but she drew back. "Let me. I can see it better." She dabbed the blood away and stuck the tweezers in until she felt and saw the small bullet, then squeezing it, cleanly removed it. She began to sew the wound closed with the needle and thread she prepared.

"You really are full of surprises." Lara said with a slight edge to her voice.

"I'm sure you have lots of questions." Kurtis took a deep breath. "But we need to get going before Gunderson and his men come scouring all the local villages for us."

She gave him a look, but said nothing. Placing a bandage over the once again closed wound, she taped it on. He hastily redressed himself in a fresh shirt and jacket and discarded the others, now too bloody and with a hole in the sleeves. He shoved the rest of his clothes back in and zipped it up, lugging it over his shoulder, as Lara put away her medical kit. They went back down, Kurtis paid for the room in cash, and they went outside to the motorcycle. Kurtis stashed the dufflebag in the trunk attached to the back of the bike, and Lara regarded the vehicle. The seat barely fit the two of them and Montségur was more than 13 hours away by car.

"We aren't driving the whole way, are we?" Lara asked with trepidation.

"Well, I don't think the airport security will turn a blind eye to our firepower." Kurtis said sarcastically.

She sighed. "Fair point. It's just a rather long drive from here all the way to France, and you're wounded."

"I'll be fine. Besides, I just made the drive a day ago." he smiled at her, clearly poking fun at her discomfort with the situation.

"Yes, well you didn't have to share your seat with someone."

"I can do half, you can do half. You know how to drive one of these, right?"

"Of course."

"I thought so. Saw that Norton Streetfighter parked outside your mansion. Anyway, if either of us get tired we can stop for the night along the way. I don't think I'll get tired of having your legs spread around me though." he said casually.

"Kurtis!"

He burst into laughter as she swatted his arm, and she snatched the keys from him.

"In that case I'll go first!"

And the two climbed on the motorbike and took off west towards Switzerland.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Translation for the German is as follows: "Hey! Come over here! They're over here!" "Don't move, or the woman dies!" and "Grüß Gott" is how Bavarians say "Good day" or "Greetings". The sign in the window said "Rooms available"._

 _Kurtis' Energy Drain is something he was supposed to be able to do in the game. The Latin is what he would have said presumably while doing this or some other 'power' of his. According to the hidden dialogue, it roughly translates to "The strength of my enemies empowers me"._

 _The scripture Kurtis quotes is from Mark 3:24-25, specifically New American Standard._

 _~ Clairesail_


	6. En Route

**~ 5** **: En** **R** **oute ~**

* * *

They drove for several hours through southern Germany and Switzerland before Lara's hands and back began to ache from sitting in the same position so long. They stopped briefly at a gas station to fill up the tank and stretch their legs, and then Kurtis offered to drive. After some hours longer on the bike, they stopped for the night shortly after passing into France, finding a small hotel in a small town to stay the night in.

"You got this?" Kurtis asked. Lara gave him a look of disdain. "Don't act like you don't have money."

She huffed. "Fine. You're lucky I took out plenty of Euros before I arrived. The last thing we need is Gunderson tracking us down by my credit card usage."

"We'll be OK. They probably know we're headed to Montségur and they may even beat us there, but there's nothing we can do about that. We have to get at least _some_ sleep if we're going to be on our A-game."

She booked them a double room – the last one available – but when she saw the room, it wasn't what Lara had in mind.

Standing in the doorway she fumed. "There's only one bed." She slung her backpack off her shoulders and onto the floor.

"Yeah but it's a 'double' bed. It's bigger than a single." Kurtis answered and immediately threw himself onto the bed. He crossed his hands underneath his head and let out a relaxing sigh.

"But I thought it would be two beds." she sulked, crossing her arms.

"It's no Super King size like yours, but it's big enough for the both of us."

She squinted and arched a brow questioningly. "When did you go in my bedroom?"

He ignored her. "We'll just keep to our respective sides and it'll be alright."

"Kurtis." she said, and he looked at her.

"Did you pack any other clothes?" he asked, distracting her.

"I- no. Why do you ask?" She looked down at her attire, expecting to find something wrong with it. Maybe it was a little dirty, and she was a little underdressed for the weather, but that's how she liked it.

He shrugged. "Unless you like wearing the same sweaty clothes over and over you might want to change."

"I can go buy some now. I saw a shop across the street when we pulled in. I don't have anywhere to keep it though; I like to travel light." she sneered, eyeballing his dufflebag-backpack at the foot of the bed.

Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked at her. "Are you telling me you wouldn't have loved a nice hot shower and change of clothes when you were on the run?"

"Fair point. Now while you get settled I'm going to pop into the shop across the street and get myself some fresh clothes. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

He shook his head.

* * *

Lucky for her, the shop across the street had a wide selection of outdoors and athletic apparel. Lara purchased a pair of olive green hiking trousers and aqua long sleeve shirt, along with an extra couple sets of thick socks, athletic underwear, and a lined black leather jacket for warmth. It was still winter, after all. When she got back to the hotel room she went straight for the shower, washing the sweat and gunpowder off of her, trying to unwind the tension from her muscles and failing. If it only wouldn't feel so out-of-bounds to ask Kurtis for a shoulder rub, she'd do it in a heartbeat...

When she left the bathroom in her athletic undergarments, Kurtis was napping on the bed, his gun and Chirugai on the nightstand next to him. He was curled up on his side, hugging a pillow and softly snoring into it. He had changed out of his pants and into a pair of drawstring shorts, and was barefoot. Feeling an odd sort of fondness for the stranger building within, Lara sought to dispel the quiet. Making as much noise as possible, she plopped onto what she assumed had been deemed her side of the bed and switching on the television, flipped through the channels until she found the BBC News.

Kurtis sat up and glared at her. "We're supposed to be resting. That's the purpose of this stop. So what the hell are you doing?" he said harshly, gesturing towards to television.

"Good, you're awake." Lara replied cheerfully. "We haven't talked since Gunderson and his men crashed our little castle party."

"We had a good thing going, Lara. And now you wanna ruin it by 'talking'? What is it with you women and talking? Just let me sleep." he whined and rolled back over.

"Oh no you don't. I have questions and I was promised answers."

"I said no such thing."

"Then I'll make a promise of my own. I promise you'll regret it if you _don't start talking_."

"Alright, alright. Easy, girl." he said and sat up again, propping the pillows behind his back. He reached into the nightstand drawer and withdrew a cigarette and lighter.

"At the window, if you please." Lara requested. Rolling his eyes, Kurtis strode over to the balcony window, and propping it open, lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply. She looked away, telling herself smokers were gross and he definitely did not look sexy in a vintage bad boy way doing it. For God's sake, he was a _mercenary_ , his mind was likely a shallow pool occupied only with thoughts of acquiring money, as all mercenaries were. Despite how his outward appearance made him seem as he stood looking into the night sky surrounded by a cloud of smoke, she knew there was nothing deep or pensive in there.

"What is it you wanna know?" he asked, breaking her away from her inner thoughts.

"What was it you did back at the castle?"

"The Farsee?"

She shook her head. "No, you told me about that. When we jumped from the window; that fall should have injured us – but it didn't. I know you did something. Back at the Louvre you did the same thing."

He shrugged and took another puff. "I'm not sure I can explain it adequately, but I just sorta... push back against gravity with my telekinesis, and it slows my descent enough that it's like I fell from a lesser distance."

"All right... but that doesn't explain how _I_ didn't fall to my death."

"Well, I... covered you. I can extend my powers a little. It's actually easy to do with you, for some reason." he added as an afterthought.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, never mind." he said quickly, "Anyway, next question?"

She stared at him a moment, wondering if she should press the matter. When she decided she didn't want to expend any more energy arguing, she moved on. "What else can you do?"

"But if I tell you I can't surprise you." he said with mock disappointment.

"That's the point. You're asking for my help on a very dangerous mission, the least you can do is keep me well-informed. I don't need any more secrets from you, and that means no more cryptic non-answers."

Kurtis pointed an accusing finger at her. "Technically, I never asked for your help. You volunteered."

"More like drafted. Someone important to me was murdered and I was framed for it. I was dragged into this messy business."

"Speaking of that... does this transparency agreement go both ways? Am I allowed to ask personal questions of you if I deem them necessary? In any case," he continued before she had a chance to answer, "I'm more of a loner, and I get the feeling you aren't much of a team player yourself. If we're going to pull this off, we need to be able to trust each other. And if _you're_ giving _me_ 'cryptic non-answers', it's hard to do that. I'll answer whatever you want if you answer mine."

After a few moments Lara said, dripping with sarcasm, "I didn't know you knew me so well."

Kurtis flicked his cigarette butt over the balcony and strode over and sat on the other side of the bed, facing her. "Tell me what happened with Von Croy."

"So you _have_ looked into me." Lara said triumphantly, crossing her arms. Her earlier suspicions were correct after all.

"Of course I did. How else was I gonna find out where you lived? Articles and tabloids don't really give the whole story, though. So spill."

Lara took a deep breath through her nose. The room smelled like smoke now, despite having made Kurtis take it outside; but it didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Perhaps she was already getting used to him.

"Professor Werner Von Croy was my mentor once. He introduced me to...this lifestyle, I suppose."

"Stealing shit from dead people." Kurtis clarified.

Lara huffed. " _No_ , more like...archeological exploring. Yes, I like how that sounds."

"And you steal priceless artifacts from tombs and hoard them in your basement."

"Hush and let me finish. Besides, I don't keep them in my basement anymore." she shook her head, trying to get back on track. "Anyway, we had a falling out on the very first expedition with which I accompanied him, and ever since then our relationship was tremulous, at best. This... competitive aggression came to a head when I accidentally released an Egyptian god bent on enslaving humanity and Werner stole the artifact necessary to put things right again. I eventually did, but as I was making my escape from a crumbling temple, he left me to die."

She examined her nails, apprehensive about seeing Kurtis' reaction, and continued. "Long story short, everyone thought me dead, but I wasn't. I was rescued by a shaman from a nearby tribe who nursed me back to health. Except for one instance where he returned a possession of mine, I never spoke to Werner again for two years. Then one day he calls me sniveling for my help, he gets murdered and I'm left standing there with my hands covered in his blood but no memory of what happened. So you see, I'm only involved in all of this because Karel chose the wrong victim." She said the whole thing with a clear voice, nonchalantly, as if telling a story of something that happened to someone else.

"You know you're just playing into his hands, right? He wanted you to get involved so you could retrieve the paintings for him."

"I know that _now._ Regardless, I won't let Karel get away with what he did to Werner." She cast her eyes to the ground, and said in a quieter voice: "I'll never forgive Werner for what happened in Egypt, but he didn't deserve to die like that."

Feeling unusually self-conscious from revealing so much personal information to someone who was essentially a stranger, Lara looked away at the pictures on the TV and rubbed her arm from chill. Kurtis was drilling holes into her, but she refused to look at him again. His gaze boring into her made her feel exposed, despite her clothing revealing no more skin than she would on a tropical escapade, so she pulled the covers from the bed around her legs.

She turned the television off with the remote and looked at Kurtis. "So, tell me more about your 'powers'."

"Not a lot to tell, I think you know the gist of it. Telekinesis, the Chirugai, Farsee, Regenerative Coma..."

"Regenerative coma?"

"That's the fancy name for it, how I survived this," he patted his belly lightly. "Oh – I can also do the opposite of that, and do an Energy Drain. Which is how my bullet wound closed up."

"So, you stole that man's 'energy'?"

"Yep, and used it to heal myself. Unfortunately it doesn't also remove _projectiles,_ so I still ended up wounded." he said dejectedly.

"But it saved your life. You could have bled to death, or gone into shock."

He got off the bed and went to his bag. "Which reminds me..." Digging through his bag, he pulled out a prescription bottle, took a pill from it, and swallowed it. "Antibiotics," he explained. Then he sat back on the bed.

"So how do your powers work?"

Kurtis rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "It's mostly all telekinetic. There's a genetic link, at least, that's what the elders believed. That the ability is passed down through certain bloodlines. I only ever passed Initiate training, so my skills and knowledge aren't even that advanced compared to an Adept, and so I tire more easily if I use it too much. It's like, when you're studying something for hours and your brain starts turning to mush and you gotta take a break to clear your head... that's what it's like if I use it all the time. It's mentally taxing."

"And that 'covering' that you said you did..?"

"Yeah, I wasn't actually _completely_ sure that would work, as I haven't really practiced it much. Good thing it did, though." he let out a chuckle. "It would suck to take on Karel by myself."

Lara frowned and thrust her foot out to kick Kurtis in the thigh. He grunted with the impact and grabbed her foot, and pinning her leg down with his own, sprang onto her and pinned her arms at her sides, forcing her to lay on the bed underneath him. She struggled briefly but gave up when it was apparent he was too strong to fight off. The look in Kurtis' eyes was blank; she couldn't read him. She couldn't tell if he was angry with her for hitting him or if he was just being playful, and the fact that she couldn't tell what he was about to do unnerved her. Just when she thought she had him pegged he'd make her second-guess herself.

Just as she was considering arguing for her freedom, Kurtis leaned forward ever so slightly, never breaking eye contact with her. Lara felt herself unconsciously press herself closer to him, then abruptly her whole body tensed. _What a_ _re you_ _doing,_ her brain screamed at her. Something indecipherable flashed across his eyes then, and he broke away, releasing her arms. He slowly got off the bed.

"I think we should get some rest now. Big day ahead of us." He said simply, then went into the bathroom and locked himself away.

A couple minutes later he emerged and collapsed face first onto his side of the bed, and promptly fell asleep without saying a word. Meanwhile Lara laid there unmoving, staring at the ceiling, wondering if she was going crazy. She finally slipped the covers over the rest of herself and rolled onto her side away from him.

She dreamed that night of crumbling rocks and stone collapsing all around her, trapping her from rising. She dreamed of Werner's hand just out of reach, morphing and shaping into Kurtis'. But this time she'd be trapped there forever; there was no shaman to save her.

* * *

 **A/N:** _R &R is greatly appreciated!_

 _Music this chapter is "Parisian Ghetto" by Peter Connelly from the Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness soundtrack - starting at beginning of chapter_

 _"Close to the End 2" by Peter Connelly from the Tomb Raider The Last Revelation soundtrack - where Kurtis traps Lara_

 _~ Clairesail_


	7. Assassin

**~ 6 : Assassin ~**

* * *

Lara woke with a start. The sun was just about to rise, she judged from the light streaming in through the slit in the curtains. She didn't sleep well the night before; she tossed and turned from nightmares and her subconscious constantly reminding her there was a stranger in bed next to her. She wasn't used to sleeping next to someone and it bothered her. Mostly it bothered her because it was _him._ Lara had a case of morning-after regret; she wished she hadn't revealed so many private details to him when she got so little in return. The fact that he was still an enigma to her, that she couldn't tell what he was thinking, bugged her. She wished she had shoved him off her when he pinned her to the bed, and for the life of her she didn't know why she hadn't. She tried to banish the angry thoughts as soon as they came, but they were enough to distract her from proper rest.

While not wanting to entertain the idea, she couldn't help but wonder if she was present in Kurtis' thoughts as well. Despite what his language implied, she was almost certain he did not find _her_ all that distracting; she was convinced the sexual innuendos and jokes were just that: jokes. After his ill-mannered behavior the previous night, she resolved not to let him confuse her any longer. And she didn't want to waste any more time dwelling on something so pointless, so she got out of bed and went into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. Fishing through her backpack, she pulled out her favorite lipstick and coated her lips, then pulled her hair back into a ponytail and began braiding it.

Kurtis entered the cramped bathroom just as she was tying the end of her hair. He was shirtless and Lara stopped and stared at him in the mirror. In the bright fluorescent lights she could clearly see all the details she missed yesterday while he was tending his wound. Between his pectoral muscles was a downy patch of dark chest hair, and another thinner, wispy trail went from his belly button and disappeared underneath his shorts. On his upper right shoulder was a small tattoo of a symbol she'd seen before: a stylized downward arrow with small horizontal lines along the shaft. She recognized it as the Lux Veritatis symbol. On his left forearm was a tattoo of the Eye of Providence. And on his upper left arm was the bandage covering the bullet wound.

He cleared his throat, drawing her eyes away from his body and back to his face. He'd caught her staring, and it was obvious from the loaded look he gave her.

"You done in here?" he said quietly, his voice gravelly from sleep.

"Make sure you change that bandage out," Lara replied briskly and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her a little harder than she intended. She felt a fool, but decided the best course of action would be to ignore it. If Kurtis wasn't going to acknowledge her blatant ogling, she wouldn't either.

* * *

As Lara finished dressing and packing up what few belongings she had, Kurtis went to the front desk to check them out of the room. While she was loading the last pistol magazine she heard a commotion coming from the front of the inn – the sound of glass shattering, wood splintering, and a scream. Grabbing a pistol and sliding the magazine home, she bolted towards the noise and stopped at the mouth of the hallway, concealing herself behind the wall. Peering out from the edge, she took in the scene.

A young woman with a small boyish build was attacking Kurtis with her bare hands. She was on his back, legs wrapped around his torso and her elbow locked around his neck, choking him. Kurtis slammed himself back into the wall once, then twice, but she didn't let go. She only gripped him harder, her boot heels digging into his stomach like the claws of a feral cat. Face turning red and pulling at her arm in vain. He extended his hand toward a coffee pot that sat on a nearby breakfast table, and with a focused look it flew and crashed into the side of the woman's head, cutting her face and knocking her off him. She fell to the floor with blood and hot coffee drenching her face.

Lara ran out from her hiding spot then and aimed her gun preparing to shoot. Somewhere to her right she heard the hostess scream and the hasty clicking of her heels as she fled the area. Before Lara could act though, the girl rolled to her feet with remarkable speed and dove at her, spearing her in the gut with her head and throwing her to the ground. Breathless, Lara found herself under a crazed beast: Eyes bloodshot, clothes rumpled, a deranged look warping her visage. A syringe was in her hand and she dove it towards Lara's neck when she was suddenly stopped by an invisible force. She stared at her hand, confused, and gritted her teeth in effort. It seemed as though she struggled against someone who wasn't there, and the wrathful woman glanced behind her at Kurtis, who with his outstretched hand was straining and sweating. As soon as the girl looked back down, the heel of Lara's palm thrust up and met the assassin's nose in a sickening crunch.

Blood spurted out her nostrils and she reeled back from the impact. Lara pressed the gun to her chest then, firing twice, and the assassin gasped and crumpled over. Kurtis came over, panting, nudged the body off and helped Lara stand. He prodded the girl with the toe of his boot, turning her so they could see. She appeared very young, at least a decade younger than Kurtis. A thin, straight scar trailed from the top of her right cheek to just above her jaw. She had a hooked nose and tangled, wavy brown hair that fell to her shoulders in a bushy mess. Lara saw Kurtis' jaw tighten and he cursed under his breath.

He looked at Lara and handed her the keys to his motorbike. "Get the bike ready. I'll clean this up."

"Do you know her?" she asked.

"Annessa Chimoya. Or rather, Morgau Vasiley."

Her eyes widened momentarily, recalling the file they read on her, but then she felt relief. "Well, she's dead now."

She backtracked to the room and retrieved their bag of possessions, slung it over her shoulder and walked through the lobby again. Kurtis was laying down a rather large stack of Euros on the counter, presumably an amount enough to cover the cost of the room plus the repairs they'd have to do courtesy of their late acquaintance. As she stepped over the body to leave, a hand grabbed her by the boot.

She wasn't dead.

With a jerk of her arm that visibly seemed far less forceful than it actually was, the girl pulled Lara onto the floor and started to climb on her. Reacting instantly, Lara kicked her in the face and blood erupted from her broken nose once more, gushing down the front of her shirt; but before her very eyes the female assassin's blood clotted and stopped bleeding. Likewise, her eyes trailed to the two bullet holes in her chest and saw they weren't there; there was two small holes in the clothing and matching bloodstains, but behind the fabric was smooth, unmarred skin.

The girl's hands went to Lara's throat, but a vibration in the air drawing near made her roll over and flattened herself to the ground, narrowly evading being decapitated by Kurtis' Chirugai, which then curved in the air and returned to its owner's outstretched hand. With the girl momentarily occupied, Lara hopped to her feet and started to run out the door, glancing back to see Kurtis and the woman throwing punches at each other. What concerned Lara was, however, how difficult she seemed to defeat. The bullets should have killed her, and the nose broken twice should have perhaps slowed her down, but there she was ducking blows and swinging her feet at Kurtis, a man a head taller and far heavier.

Without further thought Lara ran to the bike and climbed on, starting the engine. She stowed the dufflebag in the trunk attached to the back and waited, wondering if Kurtis needed her assistance. Though he didn't have his gun, he had his Chirugai, and that thing was deadly enough. Morgau didn't want to kill them – or at least not _her_ – as evident by the fact she seemed to be unarmed and had tried injecting her with something. Most likely a sedative...but whether Kurtis was safe...

Leaving the keys in the bike, she hurried back inside. The girl and Kurtis were still battling it out, the both of them a little bloodier than before, and Kurtis with scratch marks down his face. He was currently restraining her in a choke hold from behind. The girl's eyes locked with Lara's, her face turning purple, but her eyes were not panicked. She braced her left hand against Kurtis' elbow and started to bring the other one down between his legs. When Lara realized what she was about to do, she sprinted forward and front kicked her in the face just as the girl's hand reached his crotch. The girl's eyes rolled back and her head slumped forward, unconscious.

Kurtis dropped her to the floor carelessly and the two sprinted back outside where his motorcycle waited. They hopped on with Lara in the driver's seat and she started to back up when Kurtis placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait a sec." he said. Stretching his hand out to the only other two cars in the parking lot – a sedan and a jeep – he projected his psychic power and the rear tires on both cars popped in turn. "Ok, you can go now."

Lara began to drive away, and the assassin Morgau came bolting out of the front door a moment later, making a beeline for the jeep. She glanced behind her and saw the small woman in the distance, banging her fists on the hood and flinging her head back in a voiceless scream.

* * *

 **A/N:** _So this is Morgau Vasiley. She's a creation of Murti Schofield and was supposed to be a major player in the AoD sequels. Most of my interpretation of her is taken from his notes on her, but there's a little of my own interpretation of her in there as well. It would be hard to say how exactly she would have been in the game though since she was never properly brought to life, and I hope I do her justice._

 _And in case there's doubt, Morgau was intending to cause some serious damage to poor Kurtis' testicles. Luckily Lara came back for him, right?_

 _For music, I listened to "Battle Theme 01" by Kevin Manthei from the Jagged Alliance 2 soundtrack to gain inspiration for the fight scene. I sort of also see it as Morgau's theme in general._

 _Thank you for reading and reviewing :)_

 _~ Clairesail_


	8. Crypt of the Warriors

**~ 7 : Crypt of the Warriors ~**

* * *

Lara and Kurtis drove on towards the Château de Montségur, once more switching off when the one driving got tired. Once they reached a small village near the château they stopped and parked the bike out of view from the main road. Kurtis dismounted and put a lock on the storage compartment on the back of the bike where his bag was stowed. They entered a nearby hotel & bar geared towards tourists visiting the castle, and Lara went to use the ladies room while Kurtis took a cigarette break and cleaned the scratch marks on his face. When she came back out, Kurtis was chatting up a young blonde who was looking up at him with stars in her eyes.

"Did you get directions to the path?" Lara asked as she went to stand by the table they were seated at.

"Oui. Cette belle fille est Adélaïde," he gestured to the girl with a charming smile, causing her to giggle and blush.

"Does it look like I care?" Lara snapped.

"Alright then..." he murmured, then turning to the girl he bid her farewell with a kiss on the back of her hand. As the two of them turned away, the blonde watched them leave with a wistful sigh.

The château was seated high atop a rocky crag, sparsely blanketed in snow that glittered in the afternoon sun. They hiked up the trail to the château in relative silence, Lara stewing in leftover anger from the previous night, the only noise being the soft crunch of their boots sinking into the snow. As the castle slowly came into view, she finally spoke.

"So the Lux Veritatis tomb is underneath the fortress. I take it you know how to get inside?"

"Actually... I've never been here before, I only heard of it. There's probably an underground cave entrance somewhere though."

She nodded curtly and scanned the area. "Let's start looking."

"Are you ok? You seem a little... pissed off."

Throwing a dark glance at him, she retorted gratingly, "How _keen_ of you."

"If this is about last night - "

"It is." she stopped and turning to him, prodded him in the chest with her index finger. "Let's get one thing clear, shall we? You don't get to touch me like that. I may have let you get away with that at the Louvre, but we're working together now and I expect a certain level of respect." She spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.

Kurtis raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, understood."

Still glaring at him, she crossed her arms and tilted her head at him. "What _were_ you doing anyway? Did your sentimentality for the fairer sex prevent you from going through with the murder attempt?" she said jokingly.

"Heh. Yeah, no. Don't worry about it. It won't happen again." He said it without his usual self-assured manner. That piqued Lara's curiousity further. She expected him to joke back, but it appeared she'd hit a nerve.

"What is it?"

"I said nevermind."

She furrowed her brow at him but let it go and continued on.

* * *

As they made their way along the foothills, branching away from the main trail in search for any openings in the rocks for tunnels and the like, Lara said, "That woman who came after us. Morgau, is it? She wasn't trying to kill us, she was trying to stick me with a syringe."

"I noticed that too."

"Why do you think that is? I thought Karel wanted us dead."

"I assumed he does. I don't know why he'd need us alive..."

"Gunderson's men shot at us at Castle Kriegler, though." She said, thinking aloud.

"Not at _us_ , at _me_." he retorted.

Suddenly Lara saw a shadow. "Down here." she said, and lighting a flare, she neared the darkness and revealed a small cavern entrance carved into the side of the rock. It was partially obscured by some snow covered brush, but the darkness contrasted with the white snow in such a way that it wasn't too difficult to spot. They started walking down the cave.

"If they aren't trying to kill us, then they want to capture us." Lara continued their conversation. "Any idea why?"

The light from the flare danced along the cave wall, casting shadows across Kurtis' face. His brow was furrowed in thought.

"I don't know why they sent her... we're lucky we got away though."

"And she looked none too pleased about that."

"She's intense."

"I believe 'crazy bitch' is the phrasing you used."

"Well, you saw it with your own eyes." Something in Kurtis's tone, in his expression, bugged her.

"She's not easy to kill. Will have to keep that in mind." Lara stopped and turned to him. "Hey, is everything all right?" She held out the flare closer to him to see his face better.

"Of course." he answered unconvincingly. "Let's not dawdle too much; she could be right behind us." And on they went, traversing the rocks and tunnels, descending deeper and deeper through the cave.

 _Ah-ha_ , Lara thought. That's what it was; Kurtis seemed _afraid_ of Morgau. This did not bode well. For he wasn't even the tiniest bit worried when he faced down the Boaz monster, and he had been resolute on hunting down Eckhardt the Black Alchemist, but the possibility of a little crazy girl catching them concerned him enough that he couldn't hide it?

Or could it be something bothering him?

"This... Morgau Vasiley," Lara began slowly, testing the waters, "She's the only other Lux Veritatis besides you, right?"

"Looks like it." he answered without emotion.

Lara wrestled with how to approach the subject, but decided to be direct. "Do you want to keep her alive?"

His head jerked to her, countenance conveying he couldn't believe she just asked that; but there was the slightest tightening in his jaw, the bob of his Adam's apple as he swallowed, that spoke to something else.

"Why?" he asked casually.

She gave him a look. "I think you can guess." she said quietly.

He looked at her askance. "If I'm being honest, I'd prefer not to kill her. But if she leaves us no choice..." he trailed off, leaving the conclusion to her imagination.

* * *

Finally they seemed to reach a dead end. Along a stone plaque hung torn hazard tape, and a small wooden sign which'd been knocked down warned in French of trespassing and danger. The stone plaque was small, imbedded into the wall and covered in strange, raised engravings. Lara recognized some of the symbols on it from the archeological dig in Paris. It would seem the Lux Veritatis liked to protect their tombs with puzzles.

"Is it a dead end?" Kurtis asked as he ran his fingertips along the cracks and crevices of the rock wall, feeling for a door.

"I gather it's a puzzle."

"A puzzle?" He glanced at her incredulously. "I think I feel an opening here, if we had some dynamite we could blast a hole -"

"You mean bring the entire cave on our heads? No thanks. Besides, I haven't any on me, do you?" Kurtis shook his head. "Didn't think so. Don't be so averse to using your head, Kurtis."

"Ha-ha." Kurtis laughed sarcastically. "Fine. Tell me what to look for."

"Come here," she said softly. When he was by her side, she pointed to the symbols on the plaque. "Do these mean anything to you?"

Kurtis examined the writing. "It's a secret language. Lux Veritatis alphabet, so to speak."

"Yes, I also recall these symbols to enter the Tomb of Ancients. And look," she said, feeling the raised letters, "I think you can press them."

"So what's the password?" he asked.

She gave him a dubious look. "I was hoping _you,_ as the resident Lux Veritatis knight, would have some idea."

He raked a hand through his hair, momentarily brushing his bangs out of his face. _He could clean up nicely,_ Lara thought as she took in this new point-of-view.

"It could be any number of things, Lara. You sure you don't wanna try blowing a hole? I could try my telekenesis."

" _No_. Don't disappoint me, now. Think, what's something related specifically to _this_ location?"

"I don't know." he shrugged. "France. Montségur. Languedoc region. There's several knights buried here, uhh...the Cathars..."

"The Cathars what? What about the Cathars?" she stopped him.

"This used to be the stronghold of the Cathars."

She snapped her fingers. "That's right! Of course. Château de Montségur was supposedly the Holy Grail castle."

"What do you wanna try first? 'Holy Grail' or 'Cathar'?"

Kurtis moved in front of the plaque and typed in the equivalent for 'cathar' for her, pressing the resisting symbols one after another, bits of dust grinding between the creases. But nothing happened. He then tried 'holy grail', but again there was no change.

"What if this doesn't even work anymore..." he said as he struggled with the stiff buttons, but Lara shook her head.

"There's a first time for everything. But we've only tried two; can't give up yet." She brought her hand to her chin and hummed in thought, trying to figure out what they were missing. "What about...'Monsalvat'? That's the name given to the Holy Grail castle in _Parzival."_

Kurtis shrugged. "If you say so." And typed in 'monsalvat' for her. When he pressed down the final letter equivalent, a loud crackle and then a pop echoed through the cave, and the rock wall began rumbling. Along the seam the stone separated, and the slab slid down into the ground in a crevice cut out for it.

Lara strode confidently through the opening and Kurtis followed, his face a mask of awe.

* * *

A dark corridor welcomed them in. Unlit torches lined the walls, so Lara lit another flare from her backpack and illuminated them as they went, gradually brightening their way. The only sound permeating the entrance was the echoing of their boots against the stone floor. The darkness and silence compounded the isolating sensation that flooded Lara, but she was used to it. In fact, she embraced the feeling. She wondered how Kurtis was taking it, but she couldn't stop wondering what he was hiding from her.

She stopped advancing. "Just tell me."

"What?"

"What's on your mind; it's obvious something is occupying your thoughts."

Kurtis huffed. "This is really bugging you, ain't it?" The shadows from the flare made him appear tired and aged. He rolled his eyes and looked away, and when he spoke a few moments later his voice was quiet and clear in the silence. "You know I wasn't trying to hurt you, right?"

Lara sighed. "Of course, I was only -"

"I was going to kiss you."

Lara stared at him, mouth half-open in astonishment that he openly admitted it. _Why didn't you,_ she wanted to ask, but instead she said nothing. He had caught her off-guard again.

"But I could see you didn't want that. So...don't worry. I won't try it again."

She looked at him a second longer and he chuckled softly, wearily. "God, you're frustrating." he said affectionately, and he smiled warmly at her. "Satisfied?" he asked, then held a hand out down the hallway. "After you, Miss Croft."

Lara looked away then, forcing herself to focus, and was grateful for the darkness; it would conceal any perceptible changes in her facial expression. She became alert, her stride slow and cautious as they proceeded through the darkened corridor. When the toe of her boot scraped against a groove in the floor, she halted. She knelt before it and used the light from the flare to examine it. It ran across the length of the floor in a straight line and continued up the walls and across the ceiling. A few feet in front of it was an identical groove. She lit another flare and threw the dying one down the hall. When it flew passed the grooves in the wall, a giant boulder whooshed before her eyes. A block of stone the size of the area within the two grooves traveled and collided with the wall, obstructing her view of the other side, then slammed back into its notch on the other side. It continued this practice over again.

Lara glanced back at Kurtis and handed him the flare. She followed the boulder with her eyes to watch its timing, then sprinted to the other side just as it began to move to back. As she safely stepped on the other side of the grooves, her braid whipped to the side from the gust of air the sliding boulder emitted; she made it just in time.

She turned and looked at Kurtis. "Do as I did." She moved to the side to allow him room.

He didn't look worried, but waited a while before attempting it. Just as he crossed the threshold the boulder moved to the spot he had been a second ago. They continued on, crossing four more giant moving blocks of stone.

Once they crossed the last one, they entered through a doorway into a grand hall. It was reminiscent of the Hall of Seasons Lara encountered under the Louvre, the walls curving into a half-circle and the ceiling arching into a dome. There were several doors along the perimeter, each with a pulley chain suspended from the ceiling, presumably to open each heavy wood plank door. Above each door was a sign with a zodiac symbol on it – making for twelve doors in total besides the entrance. Lara and Kurtis paused and looked at each other.

"We need to find the Sleeper Scrolls, or clues to where the remaining Nephilim are located." Lara said, trying to act natural. "Since there's so many possible paths, we should split up. We'll start at opposite doors and work our way around." she said, pointing to the doors. "If one of us finds the Sleeper Scrolls, they wait back here until the other comes out."

Kurtis nodded. "This place was called the Crypt of the Warriors. Somewhere in one of these halls is a library containing information and artifacts concerning the Nephilim. If the Sleeper Scrolls are here, then I'd wager they're hidden there. They were kept only as back-up and the intention was never for them to be needed."

"So well-hidden, but not inaccessible?"

"Right. They're probably hidden in plain sight. Look for other clues in case they aren't here, though."

"Of course. Try not to get kidnapped this time." she teased, and Kurtis smirked.

"Try not to wake up any of my brothers, all right?" he teased back.

And with that they separated, Kurtis going through the first door on the left, under the Cancer sign, and Lara through the first door on the right, under the Aquarius.

* * *

 **A/N:** _The French used here translates to "Yes. This beautiful girl is Adelaide." I don't know French so blame Google Translate for any errors._

 _If you are familiar with astrology, you might have noticed that Kurtis' and Lara's signs are Cancer and Aquarius, respectively. They went through doors for their own astrological sign._

 _Thank you for reading and reviewing :)_

 _~ Clairesail_


	9. The Zodiac Belt

**~ 8** **:** **The Zodiac** **Belt ~**

* * *

The Hall of Aquarius foreseeably promised swimming. _Good thing Kurtis_ _hadn't_ _chose this door_ , Lara found herself thinking, _what with his disclosed dislike of the activity_. The entrance hall was rather drafty, decorated with tattered strips of cloth hanging from the ceiling, swaying and blowing gently in the breeze. Where the breeze was originating from, though, Lara couldn't tell. It seemed to originate from nowhere. She zipped her jacket up higher and rubbed her arms.

As she moved about, her mind drifted, unable to move past the idea yet that Kurtis had almost kissed her in the hotel room, and furthermore had admitted it to her. It wasn't how she pictured him; though she was learning more and more about him, somehow he was still as mysterious to her as ever. _Why did_ _he think I didn't want it_ _?_ She wondered, thinking back to that moment. As she went over the sequence of events in her mind, she gasped softly to herself. _Of course_ , she remembered. He had been leaning in when she tensed up, and that was when he stopped. She had been on the verge of panicking from how he had her claustrophobically trapped on the bed, the feeling of being unable to move her arms bringing back painful memories of being crushed beneath a ton of rocks... but she could see how her reaction might have looked on his end – anxious eyes widened and body going rigid – that it was in response to his actions and not something completely unrelated.

 _Oh well,_ she thought resolutely, _It's better this way._ Between Kurtis' father and Werner, there was more than enough emotional baggage for them both. They didn't need to add a disastrous and distracting romance to the mix; it was more important they focus on defeating Karel, no matter what. Even if a small part in the back of her mind wondered how _that_ might have felt...

She reached the end of the room, where amid dozens of tepid puddles, was a small pool. An intricately carved water spout, designed like a water jug, jutted out from the wall, and from its mouth poured a small trickling fountain. Underneath where the fountain met the pool, a dark shadow lay, and upon further inspection, she could see there was an underwater tunnel.

Lara splashed in and swam down into the tunnel, going up and down, reaching dead-ends, and squeezing through narrow openings. The underwater passageway appeared to have no end, to the point she was seriously worried about drowning. Her lungs burned and she felt at any moment she would no longer capable of resisting her natural instincts that cried out to take a deep breath, nevermind that she knew she'd only get water. Just as she thought she'd let go, she was pushed forward by her will to live and finally broke through the surface, reaching the other side.

Ardently gasping for air, she pulled herself onto the stone ground and lay there for a few minutes to catch her breath and calm her wild pulse. Eventually she got up and was presented with a brightly lit room. Lined up in a row across the room were jugs, vases, and jars of varying sizes and shapes. Each was of a different design, each in all sorts of different colors and materials; clay, porcelain, peuter, glass; Greek style, Chinese, Ancient Egyptian, and some styles and designs Lara was unfamiliar with. _Perhaps unique to the Lux Veritatis, or Nephilic in nature,_ she wondered.

At the far end was a door with no knob or chain or any other visible method of opening. After trying to kick it down and pry it open with her pocket knife, it immediately became clear there was a trick to it. In the center of the room stood out a brick-red colored tile square, conspicuous because all the other tiles surrounding it were a dull, pallid gray, and it was the only space in the whole room without a jug on it. Being already an expert in solving puzzles, Lara easily deduced this tile was some sort of scale or had some kind of trigger. Judging by the water-holding devices, and what little she knew of the Aquarius sign, she deduced the solution lay in filling jugs up with the correct amount of water. With Aquarius' symbol being the Water-Bearer, often depicted as a man pouring water from a jug at his shoulders, it was no surprise then that the puzzle was related to that.

The question that lay in her mind now was: Which jug to use, and how much water was needed? For convenience's sake she ruled out the vases that were as large as her; she wouldn't physically be able to fill those up and move them onto the scale by herself. She thought about which numbers might be related to the Aquarius sign, but it had been so long since she'd brushed up on her Astrology that she could only draw a blank. But perhaps she could find some clues...

After looking around the room and not finding anything she thought relevant, she swam back to the entrance hallway – easier the second time around as she knew the way – with the strips of cloth blowing from the ceiling. There she looked around. She decided to count the strips of linen, as surely they served a purpose other than decoration: There were eleven of them. She swam back to the jug room and inspected the jars and vases, before selecting the eleventh one from the left – a brick-red one. It was as good a guess as anything else, she shrugged to herself. Filling it up with water from the tunnel, she carefully dragged the brick-red vase over to the brick-red square tile in the middle and positioned it so that it was directly in the middle.

The scale seemed to sink a fraction of an inch, and with it the door at the end swung open.

* * *

The room she entered was far less dark and dank than the previous two, but no less drafty. On the ceiling above was an elaborate drawing of the planets and constellations. Two planets in particular seemed to be the focus: Uranus and Saturn; and likewise, the constellation of Aquarius was more deeply engraved than the others. On opposite ends, two sarcophagi were nestled on the floor, their lids carved in Latin script. In the middle of the room stood a pole and dangling from it, several small circular brass wind chimes, delicately tinkling against each other and creating a beautiful background music.

Examining her surroundings, Lara found little of value or interest here. There were no scrolls, no wall paintings, nothing but the ceiling art, elaborate wind chime, and two dead Lux Veritatis warriors. There weren't even any noticeable traps or undead knights. There was a door at the far end, but it was locked. As she was about to turn around and retrace her steps, a glint from the wind chime caught her eye. A small key, tied with twine, hung from one of the chimes. Taking a pocket knife from her backpack, she cut the twine and used the key on the exit door.

The door led her further underground in a rather cramped tunnel, dimly lit by torches. When she reached the end, she found herself surrounded by similar tunnels. At the apex of these tunnels where she stood, was a wooden platform and pulley chain that ran the length from floor to ceiling. Centering herself in front of it, she pulled. A hatch in the ceiling above fell open with a clang on the first pull, and simultaneously the wooden platform rose a little. She continued to pull the chain until she reached the top, where she was back in the main zodiac hall. A moment after stepping off the elevator platform, the chain mechanism began to crank loudly and the elevator platform descended slowly.

With no sign of Kurtis waiting in the hall, and having found no clues related to the Nephilim, Lara made her way to the next door in line, which was somehow already opened. The sign above the door, of Virgo.

* * *

The Virgo Room was not at all in the same style as Aquarius. Upon entering through the door there was a narrow but finely decorated entryway, furnished with cozy looking chemises. Through an archway the hall spread out into a grandiose sitting room and library. There stood floor to ceiling bookshelves alternating with stone statues and busts of young women. Hung above a small couch at the back of the room was a painting of Madonna and Child. Near the center of the room, placed between two burning torches was a statue of a beautiful angel with large feathered-wings, cradling in his arms a sleeping nude woman, and gazing down at her lovingly. This was the only statue or painting with an inscription. Lara traced it as she read aloud:

"'EX SANGUINIBUS VIRGINIS UTERO, NASCITUR REGINAE ANGELORUM.' 'Through the blood of the virgin womb, the queen of angels is born.'"

All of a sudden the large Madonna and Child painting swung open with a creak, revealing a hidden compartment behind it. As she neared, she saw that the painting was hung on hinges. Inside the compartment was a small pedestal, but nothing sat atop it. _If this was the location of the Sleeper Scrolls_ , Lara thought, _they've already been claimed_. But there was no way for her to know for sure. Her only option was to keep looking. Even if they had been taken, Kurtis said it was possible to find out the location of the Nephilim Sleepers through other means.

Lara took out Werner's notebook and jotted down the inscription. It might not be useful, but better to have it and not need it. She probed the remainder of the room for clues, noting that the spines of many of the books mentioned Nephilim or Angels. There were too many for her to read all at once, so she decided to come back later if she didn't find anything else. Taking another small brass key hanging from the neck of one of the busts, she exited the room, ran through the underground tunnel and pulled the elevator chain to bring her back up to the main hall.

Kurtis was still no where to be seen. She wished she had come up with some idea for them to mark their progress for the other to see; she wondered if he had even finished the first room yet, or maybe he was already on his third, or even fourth. But ultimately it didn't matter; when one found something important, they'd stay in the main hall until the other came out. Lara wondered briefly if the statue in the Virgo Room counted as 'important'.

As she was dwelling on whether to go into the next room or wait, the elevator hatch dropped down and she heard the clacking of the chain as it was pulled. Kurtis slowly emerged from the hole, and when he caught sight of her his eyebrows raised in surprise. Once the elevator was in place, he departed and jogged over to her.

"Find anything?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. There was a statue – one moment," she reached into her backpack and withdrew Werner's notebook to read the inscription verbatim. "'Ex sanguinibus virginis utero, nascitur reginae angelorum'. Through the blood of the virgin womb -"

"'The queen of angels is born." Kurtis finished for her.

She put the notebook back. "That was inscribed on a statue of an angel holding a woman."

"Sounds ominous." he replied thoughtfully.

"Right, but as soon as I read it aloud, a painting in the room moved, and behind it was a compartment with a bare pedestal."

"Well that's not good."

"That's what I was thinking." Lara replied. "Do you have any idea what it means? It was the library you mentioned, and the room was very... Nephilim-centric. Odd, I would think, for a Lux Veritatis tomb."

He shook his head. "It's referencing a ritual. The Order has recovered very few scrolls or icons made by Nephilim, as being immortal, they don't see the need behind keeping detailed records. What few spoils of war that my forefathers have collected were housed here, which is why I guessed the Sleeper Scrolls would be as well."

Lara nodded; it made sense. "Well, they weren't in the library. There were too many books to look through, we should come back to it if we don't find what we need in any of these other halls. How far have you gone?"

Kurtis pointed behind him. "Just about to go into my third one. I'll let you know if I find anything."

And the two went their separate ways again.

* * *

The symbol for Sagittarius stared down at Lara from above the next door, taunting her. She looked behind her; Kurtis had already entered the third door on his side, but she was stuck here. With great frustration she tugged on the pulley chain once more, but it refused to budge. The door wouldn't open! Grumbling to herself in vexation, she resigned to try the next door. She would just have to come back to this room at a later time. Perhaps there was a lever in another room that would open it, as usually was the case in these old tombs.

The door to the Aries room slammed shut behind Lara, trapping her from leaving the way she came. An arena was before her, the floor covered in an elaborate heavenly mural. Swirling lines and curves shaped the planets, and standing in the center of each were small pedestals. Writing could be made out along the edge of them, but as Lara drew near she was stopped by a blinding light.

From the center of each pedestal bright light beams shot to the top of the room and a deep, groaning voice thundered through the arena: _"qui occurrit..._ _praepara_ _imminent_ _is mortis... lux veritatis circa te..."_

The light died then and in the place of the pedestals, in the middle of the room, appeared two beasts. Their bodies were that of men, but their heads were ram skulls, skeletal and without flesh or eyes. They wore armor from the neck down that rattled and seemed to dangle as if attached to a body far too thin. One wielded an axe and the other a sword, and in their other hands they carried shields. Their bodies gleamed with a shimmery red aura, and their prodigious horns glowed as if on fire.

"Great. Just what I needed." Lara muttered under her breath. Without further ado, she freed her twin pistols from their holsters, aimed them at the two ram sentinels and began firing.

The ram guards approached her, blocking her bullets with their shields, and she backed up at the same time, avoiding the swipe of their weapons. She was so far unable to land a single hit to their bodies; the bullets merely glanced off the shields, and no matter where she shot at the covers seemed to appear at that place instantly, as if they knew where she would shoot before she did so. As she fought off their attacks, the one with the axe halted and remained still while the one carrying the sword continued to follow and attack the tomb raider. The pair moved in an arc, Lara hopping back and firing her gun, leaping and dodging sword strikes that the other continued in its onslaught.

As she was changing out her empty pistol magazines with a full pair, she suddenly sensed movement to her left. She did a back-flip just in time to miss being rammed by the axe-wielding Aries' horns. It collided with its partner's shield, its horn lodging itself in the thick material. When it pulled itself free, the shield had a huge crack down the middle. A well-placed shot from Lara's pistol shattered the escutcheon and the pieces showered to the floor. Then the axe-wielder began to approach as the other stood still.

The next time Lara was ready: When the other Aries charged she knew perfectly well just when to jump out of the way. Its horns got stuck in the other's shield just as before, and with a couple more gunshots it shattered. Now they were both without protection.

She concentrated all her gunfire on one then, all the while avoiding their attacks and charges, until the one she was shooting at froze in place. The crimson aura faded from it, and its gleaming horns dulled until turning black as soot. It no longer moved and seemed to have lost its spark of life. Smirking triumphantly, Lara leveled her gaze at the remaining ram-man. Its glowing eye sockets seemed to flicker in acknowledgment and accept her challenge. It held out its sword and without warning the blade was engulfed in fire; hot flames licked its metal edges. Lara backed away from the heat and shielded her eyes, the sudden wave of heat having taken her by surprise.

As she was recovering, it advanced and swung at her, the blade connecting with the forearm she was using to screen her face with. But instead of cutting her arm as a sword would, it burnt her flesh instead. She fell down with jaw clenched in pain and anger, and holding back a scream, she unleashed the remaining ammo from her gun magazines. Lara rolled to the side at the last second as its sword came down hard beside her head and glanced off the stone, sending sparks flying. She got to her feet and sprinted across to the other side of the room as fast as she could, and dug for more gun magazines from her backpack. By the time she had her pistols loaded again the creature was by her once more and carving arcs in the air.

She backed up while firing until almost reaching the wall. Now crowded, she ran and jumped and pushed off the wall with one leg, launching herself towards the beast and kicked it in the face. The hard toe of her boot cracked its skull and its face caved in, and the Aries fell backwards to the ground. When its sword hit the stone floor the flames were extinguished and its glimmering carmine aura vanished.

At the same time as the final sentinel was defeated, the door on the opposite end from the entrance lifted and allowed her to exit. Damp with perspiration, she wiped her forehead, knelt and applied burn ointment and a bandage to her arm. Then she went through the lower passageway, returning to the main hall once more. Apparently her battle with the guards triggered a lever mechanism as the door to the Sagittarius hall was now open. She strolled over calmly, catching her breath, and entered.

* * *

The Hall of Sagittarius held a test of archery. Murals of battlefields and warring men adorned the walls, and bullseyes were painted on large wooden circles mounted at the other end. Between the murals was a single sarcophagus. At the entrance was a bow and a quiver full of arrows resting on a table. Lara, intrigued by the set up, took them and shot a couple off. Her score was decent but it was not her best work. After all, her skill was in firearms, not archery. Letting the bow fall to her side, she approached the murals.

The first one on her left depicted a battle. At the helm of the battlefield were a group of knights donning armor, carrying swords and shields. Behind them were a line of archers shooting flaming arrows up into the sky. And their target: large, white winged monsters. Angels... or maybe Nephilim. Upon closer inspection, Lara saw the knights' chest plates had the same Lux Veritatis arrow symbol that Kurtis had tattooed on his shoulder. In the background of the mural were cylindrical poles or beams of rock, topped with rounded mushroom heads...but giant mushrooms? She didn't know what they meant. It struck Lara that this mural wasn't just pretty artwork, but was rather telling about a battle that had actually taken place. The Lux Veritatis, a whole army of them, slaying the Nephilim.

The mural on the opposite wall depicted another scene, one she concluded took place soon after the battle. A much smaller group of Lux Veritatis warriors stood surrounding two Nephilim that were being placed in sarcophagi. Their eyes were closed and arms crossed over their chests as though dead. One of the knights was depicted taller than the others and held above his head three daggers – the Periapt Shards.

So what was the meaning of this? Lara couldn't understand why the Lux Veritatis simply didn't kill those last two Nephilim, why they either put them into or allowed them to remain in a state of sleep, rather than destroy them forever. _Perhaps Kurtis knows more,_ she thought.

In order to exit the room, Lara assessed the solution was in the arrows. Taking a hint from the mural, she lit the arrowhead of one of them from a torch mounted at the entrance, and shot it off at the bullseye. This time she hit a perfect ten, and the flame from the arrow began to spread and soon burnt the entire piece of wood. Once it was completely blackened, the door behind it cranked open on its own accord, and Lara returned to the main hall.

When Lara reached the main hall she felt something was not right. Upon scanning the perimeter of the room she saw the fourth door on Kurtis' side was left open. Crossing over to the other side, panic began to bubble in her belly. She went to the door and paused.

"Kurtis?"

There was no answer. She stepped over the threshold and into the hall. She noticed straightaway the cause of that strange feeling: something had happened to Kurtis, something bad.

The long dim hallway was empty except for a defeated corpse. A huge bull-like beast lay still on the floor, resembling in a way the ram-men Lara fought. Its head was a bull's, but its body was a man's. Blood – _human_ blood – splattered the wall near the corpse. As she neared the body she felt her boot step on something. She moved her foot and bent to pick it up. When she saw clearly what it was her heart sank.

Kurtis' golden ring, that she'd never seen him without since first seeing him in Café Metro, lay there abandoned on the stone floor. But why would he discard it? As a sign for her? She pocketed the ring and as she turned to leave something glinted in the darkness, reflecting the light from the torches. With delicate fingers she picked it up by its handle. A used syringe lay by the wall, having been carelessly dropped after its contents emptied.

This meant only one thing, and the sudden worry and fear she felt earlier was now founded. Kurtis had been taken, drugged by that vicious assassin Morgau. Though she wanted to search the rest of the crypt for him, a large part of her knew there could be no other meaning behind this. This was a clue left behind on purpose.

As Lara exited the hallway back into the main chamber, an image flashed across her face. The round-topped cylindrical poles in the mural... she had seen those before. Valley of the Fairy Chimneys, located in the Cappadocia Valley, Turkey. The battle took place near there – and if the Nephilim were buried soon after that battle, then it only made sense they were still nearby the battlefield. Which meant the two remaining Nephilim were buried somewhere in Cappadocia.

With great consternation Lara retraced her steps to leave the Crypt of the Warriors and came out from under the Château de Montségur, leaving a tomb unexplored for the first time in her life.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Thank you for reading and reviewing! I also want to thank Meldelen again for beta-reading my chapters, and bringing different perspectives to my story: Thank you dear!_

 _Some notes: I don't know Latin, at all. If there are errors please forgive me, I used an online translator and everyone knows how those can be wrong. The Latin used in the Aries room roughly translates to "who intrudes... prepare for imminent death... light of truth surrounds you..." The idea of the Crypt being zodiac-themed comes from something I read about early notes for AoD: the Tomb of Ancients was supposed to be twice as big as it is, with a whole section being the Zodiac Halls as well as the Hall of Seasons, but due to time constraints, was cut out. I don't know how true this is, it's just something I read online before. Since I've always been fascinated by Astrology I jumped on the idea to make one of the Lux Veritatis locations zodiac-themed._

 _If the ending of this chapter seems confusing, I'm sorry for that but I promise it'll make more sense as the story progresses. As a reminder, so far this story has been (with the exception of the Prologue) only from Lara's perspective; we only know what she knows and can only see her thoughts and not others. This is about to change soon and we'll learn more._

 _Now stay tuned for a bunch of masturbatory explanations of my references in this chapter: The Aquarius sign is the Water-bearer, so hence the water and the jugs. The house in reign is the 11th, so there's eleven strips of cloth, and it's element is Air, so that's why there was an unexplained breeze blowing the cloth and the wind chimes. It's ruling planets are Uranus and Saturn - which are depicted on the ceiling of the tomb room. The Virgo room is full of references and art depicting virgins, as that's the image associated with Virgo - the Virgin. Aries is the Ram, and it's element is fire so the beast's sword lit on fire. Sagittarius is the Archer, depicted as a centaur with a bow and arrow. It's also a fire element so Lara needed to light the arrows on fire. It's ruling house is the 9th, so there were nine arrows (but I left that part out). The room she finds Kurtis' ring in was, if you can guess by the bull monster, the Taurus hall ;)_

 _For music, I listened to "The Unseen Attack" from the TR: Angel of Darkness soundtrack by Peter Connelly for the Aries fight scene, and "Mystery 2" from the TR: The Last Revelation soundtrack by Peter Connelly for when Lara sees the angel statue :)_

 _~ Clairesail_


	10. Morgau

**~ 9 : Morgau ~**

* * *

The young woman strode with purpose down the hall, the rubber soles of her boots squeaking against the linoleum tiles as she went. She had done her part, now it was his turn. It was time for her session.

She approached the door at the end of the hall and gently knocked.

"Come in." the voice from the other side answered.

She opened the door to the Nephilim's office and stood before the round table where he sat. He didn't acknowledge her presence with so much as a glance, too busy staring off in the distance with a pensive look. "Report." he commanded in his refined masculine voice.

Morgau took a deep breath. "Kurtis Trent is in custody. I left him sedated with Rouzic as commanded."

The Nephilim's eyes shifted to her then, his gaze slicing straight through her. "And the woman? Tell me you didn't let Lara Croft go again."

She cleared her throat. "I do not have her, sir."

He pursed his lips. "I assigned you this case myself, Morgau, because I have great faith in your abilities. There is no one in the Agency who can do what you do." Her heart swelled with pride at his words, but then quickly deflated from what he said next. "So you understand why it is a disappointment to hear of this failure."

"Trent -" she started to protest, but Karel cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Yes, yes. I know, not all is lost. Dismissed." And with that he turned again away from her. Morgau stared at him a moment longer, swallowing back her nerves. So what if she didn't get Croft? This way Croft would come to _them,_ but that damn Nephilim had to have things _his_ way... Nevermind it, he'd see she was right.

She cleared her throat quietly. "My injections?" she asked timidly.

He looked at her again, eyes squinting near imperceptibly. He pointed to the door. "Go to the lab in an hour. I'll administer them myself."

With a nod she left the room, closing the door behind her softly. Master Karel despised loud noises when he was in a mood like that. When Gunderson had told her where to find him upon returning with the victim, she procrastinated going to see him, not wanting to disturb him while he was... doing whatever it was that he did during these times. Though he had only been the head of the Cabal for three months, everyone seemed to accept the change of power without issue, everyone accepted his quirks as if they'd always known him. But the truth was different. Anyone who might have opposed his leadership had already been killed by Eckhardt, and no one knew this man. Eckhardt's cruelty she knew like the back of her hand, but this creature...

* * *

Since she had an hour to kill before heading downstairs, she made her way to the break room for a snack and drink. As she passed an Agency grunt she nodded in comradery but was met with coldness; he averted his gaze and grimaced. She was used to this treatment from the other soldiers. She understood her appearance was off-putting to the others, but did it really warrant that reaction?

The break room it was already inhabited by a handful of workers eating, drinking, and conversing, and when she entered the room went quiet. She felt their eyes on her back as she bought a bag of chips and soda from the vending machines and stood against the wall, knowing she wouldn't be welcomed at the table, regardless if there was an open seat or not. Even if no one would talk to her, she still enjoyed hearing the others talk and laugh and joke with each other. It was easy to smile behind her soda can and pretend she was one of them.

After a moment the workers picked up their conversation where they'd left it. They were discussing the dig; there wasn't much work left to do. As she listened she noticed a crude map, a sort of blueprint of the excavation laying on the table. There were tunnels and corridors marked in two different colors, crisscrossing each other and going every which direction. At the end of one of them was an X-mark. None of it made any sense to her. Despite her being the one to inexpertly decrypt the Sleeper Scrolls, she was left out-of-the-loop. The deciphered Scrolls were themselves shrouded in another code, referring to places and things that made no sense to her, but Karel was instantly familiar with it. So even in this she was cast off, kept separate from the others.

One of the men commented about strange bugs he'd seen in the tunnels, and another called him a liar, and another a coward. They all laughed together in good fun. Morgau frowned. When people insulted her, no one laughed. She started to giggle too, but when the workers at the table heard this, they apparently didn't find the joke funny anymore and stopped to stare at her. No one spoke a word, but their uneasy glances said enough.

Morgau took a deep breath. _Calm down, calm down._ She chanted to herself like an incantation. She squeezed her eyes shut, but even not being able to see them she still knew they were looking back at her, calling her a freak in their minds. Furious, she moved from the wall and threw her half-empty soda can and bag of chips in the trashcan with more force than was necessary. She stormed from the room and as she crossed the threshold she heard one of the men mumble: "Watch out, she's having another _episode_." And the stifled laughter of the group chased her all the way to the elevator.

* * *

Morgau entered the examination room without knocking. She spotted Luther Rouzic from outside through the glass window separating it from the hallway. He turned to her and gave her a revolting smile – _not his fault_ , she thought, _he can't help being ugly_ – but regardless it sent a chill down her back. He was the only one in the entire building, in the entire Cabal, who was anything resembling warm to her, so she tried not to offend him. She wanted at least one person on her side. She walked up to the table and casually looked at his notes spread out there.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked not unkindly.

"Just waiting on Master Karel." She touched a paper with a fingertip. _Kurtis Heissturm,_ it read at the top, but the rest was written in a shorthand not legible with a glance. "He's supposed to meet me here to administer my injections."

"Ah," Rouzic said, shuffling the papers away from her eyes. "Yes. _Those._ I'd offer to do it myself, but it seems the Master prefers keeping you to himself..."

It was with great difficulty she kept an impassive face, for inside she was twisting with disgust at that man's words. When she'd learned of Eckhardt's demise at the hands of that Croft woman, she thought she'd finally be free. But as she had been slowly learning through the actions and words of everyone around her, she was just as shackled to the Cabal as ever before; only her new jailer wore a kinder mask than the old, but both held no regard for her life beyond what she could do for them.

"I wish you would instead," she said quietly, "That man scares me."

The tall and gaunt man let out a grotesque, barking laugh. "Indeed, we all must do things we'd rather not in these trying times. You think I wouldn't rather be in my archives, working on my trophies, reading my books? But since the death of the other Cabal scientists, I am the only one left suitable for this task... In fact," he continued, creaky voice rising in arrogance, "I may have _always_ been the only one suitable, for I am the only one who bore witness to Master Eckhardt's work when he performed them on _you._ I am uniquely suited to carrying on the program."

Rouzic seemed to come back to himself then, realizing who he was talking to, and leered at her with suspicion. Then a medical assistant new to the Cabal – Jozef,she recalled his name – entered the laboratory in a white lab coat and green scrubs underneath. He was young, though still older than her, with a boyish face that made him appear even younger, big sad eyes like a puppy dog, and a curly mop of brown hair on his head. Though he appeared warm and kind on the outside, his complete lack of compassion and empathy made him unsuitable for traditional medical settings. Morgau thought he was cute, but he ignored her entirely, having neither spoken a single word to her nor looked at her once.

"The subject's been prepped. Do you have the notes ready?" Jozef asked, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.

"Yes. Shall we get started?" The two men nodded to each other, then looking to her, Rouzic motioned towards the door. "If you don't mind waiting outside... I need to bring the patient inside and begin the work."

She nodded, exited, and went to lean against the wall out in the hallway. After a few moments Rouzic and the medical assistant came out and went into a room a couple doors down the hallway, then reappeared from the room with a gurney between them. Eyeing her suspiciously, Rouzic latched the heavy metal door shut and pushed the gurney down the hall as Jozef pulled ahead. A man was strapped to it, unconscious, a white sheet covering his body to his neck. As they passed by, Morgau could see the needle mark in his neck, the one she had given him.

No one had told her he was Lux Veritatis. She found that out on her own, when he used his powers on her at the hotel room and attacked her with his special weapon. Her psychic powers were basic, the majority of her power came from her enhancements. Eckhardt had once promised to get her her own special Lux Veritatis weapon but had been unable to accomplish that before dying. But she doubted there were many she'd even be capable of controlling; she had tried using the Chirugai but it was too unruly and wouldn't follow her commands. The second time she confronted Kurtis she was prepared for what he could do, so she planned ahead and blind-sided him in her attack, putting up a psychic shield to dampen his energy. That battle had truly been one between equals. Eventually, she was able to subdue him.

But seeing him on that gurney, one of _her kind_ , without her anger blinding her... something stirred in her. Her severe countenance softened as she took in his stricken pallor, his dark lashes painting his cheeks, rendered weak and defenseless.

* * *

 _Pain was all she registered. Pain in her chest, pain in her abdomen. Pain in her head – a headache that seemed to split her brain in two. Pain in her fingers, her legs, her toes,_ _that branched out and devoured every inch of her_ _. Everything felt wrong, her eyelids were too heavy, so impossible to keep open for longer than a minute, yet being unable to rest. Because all she felt was pain._

 _And fury._

 _It consumed her from within. If this pain didn't kill her, the anger would. She wanted nothing more than to break from the shackles binding her and rip the throat of the person responsible._

 _Something sharp pricked her neck, though she had no visible reaction to it. So used to constant discomfort as she was, something minor like that was barely acknowledged. It sent a rush of adrenaline through her bloodstream and her eyes shot open. She panted like a wild dog._

 _She needed to move. She sat up, finding the bindings had been loosened. As she looked around her – where was she? - she noticed him. The man who had taken her. Was he responsible?_

 _The man, wicked and intense, with his gray hair tied back in a ponytail, rubbed his gloved hands together in front of him. Yes, it was the same man as before, and he didn't seem surprised to see her like this. It was then she noticed her own state. She was naked, but stronger than the instinct to cover herself was her curiosity, for strapped to her torso was an odd type of corset. It came just up to underneath her small breasts and extended the length of her stomach, stopping above her pubic mound. It was metal, with clasps and wires and tubing wrapping around it, encasing her. She dug the tips of her fingers under the seams and tugged, and the sensation was like someone was pulling on her guts. The man chuckled then, drawing her attention. His voice was coarse and reminded her of gravel._

 _"You cannot ever remove that. This 'corselet' is keeping you alive. If you don't want to die, you'll do as I command. Do I make myself clear?"_

 _She nodded obediently. When he spoke to her, the pain stopped! Nothing hurt when she looked at him. She even almost felt good. She would do whatever it took to keep this feeling._

 _"Good." he continued. "From now on you'll work in the Agency, under my direction. You remember your training, I presume?"_

 _She nodded again. She had forgotten about it, forgotten even her own name while she was trapped there, but it was all coming back to her now. Her name, her father, the Lux Veritatis, the experiments..._

 _The experiments! Suddenly she was furious again, her fists and jaw clenched, and she wanted to lash out. But the mere thought of it was impossible. She was abruptly submerged in agony and cried out, holding her skull between her small hands and falling back onto the table. As she screamed and wept, her body contorted and the evil man came toward her with a demonic smile._

 _"You cannot go against me, child. I am your master now. Rise, and follow me."_

 _The torment left her then, replaced once more with relief. She removed her hands clutching her hair and sat up. She followed him, feet dragging._

* * *

During the fight Kurtis had done something to her. At one point he had placed both his hands on either side of her face and spoke an invocation in a hushed tone, in Latin she suspected, but his large hands covering her ears and her own struggling against him muffled the words. At the time she thought little of it, assumed he was summoning some attack. But ever since he'd done that, something changed in her. The tightness that normally constricted her chest, the barrier that prevented her from thinking of subverting her Masters had vanished. She found she was able to freely imagine running away without any pain hindering her, without her emotions being suppressed. Whatever he had done... she was like before she had been captured by Eckhardt. Slowly but surely, she was gaining her personality back, and she had to be careful to hide that from the others.

Her heart had the impression of being torn in two as she watched Rouzic and Jozef roll that man into the lab room. Shutting the door behind him, Jozef turned and drew the blinds down the window and blocked her view.

She turned to leave, but when she got to the elevator the doors opened and Karel stood there, expression stolid. She started, placing a hand to her wildly beating heart. The way he looked at her unnerved her, as if he knew everything she'd been thinking. "Master Karel! You startled me; you're here earlier than expected."

"Yes, I finished sooner than I anticipated." Finished what, Morgau had no idea. The man – no, creature – was a mystery, and no one dared question him. "Come." he said as he passed by her. She followed behind him, and they made their way back to the lab rooms. He stopped at the door between the lab Rouzic was in and the room Kurtis had been kept in, and opened it. They stepped in.

It was an exam room like the others, with a bare gurney in the middle and glass-door cabinets against the walls hugging a metal table for note-taking. In the cabinets were vials and beakers, and Karel went to one and using a key he produced from inside his jacket, unlocked it and withdrew a vial and syringe. Sticking the needle through the top, he filled it with the clearish fluid. "Have a seat."

Morgau sat atop the gurney and took off her jacket and shirt, leaving her in her bra. The Nephilim took her arm and stuck the needle in without so much as feeling for a vein. She knew he could probably see them without resorting to the traditional methods, as pale as her skin was and inhuman as his vision was. After he withdrew the needle he inspected the corselet strapped to her torso; checked the wires, the filaments. Then he went to the glass case and removed another vial and fresh needle, and injected this one through an input in her metal casing. Warmth spread through her belly and extremities, bringing feeling back to her numb fingers and toes. She felt renewed again and her heart rate increased slightly.

"Master," she began lightly in her soft, feminine voice, "I'm sorry I have let you down."

"Are you?" he asked categorically. The warmth in her belly now turned to fear. _Was it her imagination, or ever since she returned with Trent he looked at her differently?_ _Did he suspect something?_

"I thought... they would be together, but they had separated. I found Trent first, and Gunderson forbade me from using weapons -"

"Yes, I know what Gunderson told you; they were my orders. You did the right thing. Now we've the chance to see if that dotard Eckhardt was really onto something. You've been very useful. And I know what you were thinking..." her chest constricted, but she let nothing show. "...It was very clever of you. Now you have a second chance. When Lara Croft comes here to find him – which I have no doubt she knows our location by now – you'll capture her and bring her to me. Without the Lux Veritatis protecting her, it should be an easy enough task for you."

She nodded, kept her voice even. "I understand."

Just then a muffled groan pierced the air, coming from the adjacent room, followed by another and another. Karel left the room without a word and as Morgau redressed herself, the cries increased until she felt _she_ was being tormented all over again. Pressing her hands to her ears she rushed out of the room and ran away from the haunting memories.

She couldn't do this anymore.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Music - "Opus 17" & "Opus 23" by Dustin O'Halloran_


	11. Cappadocia

**~ 10 : Cappadocia ~**

* * *

Lara Croft knew two things for certain: one being that the Nephilim Sleepers were somewhere in the Cappadocian Valley; and two being that Kurtis had been captured under the orders of Joachim Karel. The questions that remained, however, were where exactly these Nephilim were and whether Kurtis was still alive. Since exiting the cave in Montségur her wariness had only grown, and though she knew this was likely a trap, she saw no other way around it. She couldn't very well leave him to die in Karel's hands. She just couldn't.

So after flying to Turkey, finding where Kurtis was being kept was actually rather simple. Follow the money, as the saying goes. When a private organization bankrolls the construction of a complex facility out of the blue right on the outskirts of the Cappadocian valley, the locals take note. It was only a matter of asking around the local cafés before someone pointed out the couple-of-months-old mysterious installation to her. No one seemed to know what it was for, other than something vaguely geological, but they all knew it was heavily guarded and signs posted warned of the dangers of trespassing.

So Karel had the Sleeper Scrolls all along and had already been digging for his long lost brothers. The building was likely a front to keep the local authorities off his back until he could revive the Sleepers, and then it wouldn't matter if they were outside the law. When the Nephilim ruled, they would _be_ the law.

Lara stood outside along the outer limits of the village of Göreme, the darkness of night illuminated by the lights from the café behind her. She stood there, sipping at the hot Turkish tea she had just ordered, and stared off into the distance. She could just make out the faint glowing lights from the Cabal facility. It was a large nondescript rectangular building, but like with the Strahov, she'd need a way to get in. White pillows of snow caked the few scattered mushroom-topped rock formations that extended near the city. The area was gorgeous; it really was a shame she was here for work rather than holiday.

After finishing her tea, she tossed the disposable cup into the rubbish bin and walked away, her boots crunching in the shimmering snow. She hugged her leather jacket around herself tighter and began to make her way back to the hotel she booked for the night, where she would then prepare and plan on how to break in. At least the cold kept everyone else indoors and out of her way.

At her hotel room she prepped her backpack: plenty of spare ammunition, wire cutters, med-packs, compass. Her contact in Turkey hooked her up with her illegal supplies as soon as she arrived in the country by air. There were means by which she could transport her weapons across the world with her, but she had neither the time nor the patience for that. Not now.

Likewise she was too wired to sleep, and every minute Kurtis was in the hands of the Cabal could be his last, for all she knew. So with no further ado Lara slung on her backpack and strapped on her holsters. She put on a large trench coat over her jacket to keep the nipping wind out and obscure her weapons, then headed out by foot towards the facility.

* * *

When she reached the outer perimeter, she cut a hole in the chain link fence in an area that was shrouded in darkness, then quietly slunk in. There, several meters near a door with a floodlight above it, was a trash dumpster. Bent over, Lara quietly made her way to sit in a crouch behind it, her head peeking out to have view of the door. A guard stood in front of the door smoking a cigarette, but he was positioned so that she wasn't in his line of sight. Beside the door was a key card reader. She'd have to take him out quietly and take his card, then sneak her way through the building like at the Strahov. _Easy peasy._

Just then a jeep drove in from the opposite direction and parked near the entrance. A small woman hopped out, and in the second her face was turned towards the light, Lara was sure she recognized her, but then she turned away and shadows cast across it, obscuring the details. She fiddled with the buttons on her coat and glanced in the tomb raider's direction. Lara recoiled further back behind the dumpster, inhaling sharply. She was certain the woman saw her. But as she focused on her hearing, she noticed no footsteps approached, but instead went towards the door.

Lara carefully peeked around the dumpster again. The petite woman walked right up to the guard and after a greeting, placed her hands on either side of his head and twisted until an audible crack was heard. The man fell to the floor, dead. Lara gasped. Immediately the girl looked back again, directly making eye contact with Lara. She was _definitely_ looking at her.

Lara quickly drew her pistols and aimed them at the woman, who began to walk towards her. She stopped after a few feet, and with the distance closed, her identity was now clear: It was Morgau Vasiley.

The assassin looked at her without any sort of malice in her visage. Her eyes shined, and she stared intensely at Lara, like she was trying to read her mind. She then calmly raised her hands as if in surrender. That set Lara off.

"Where's Kurtis? What's happened to him?" she asked sharply.

The girl was earnest and urgent in her response. "He's alive, but he's in danger. You need to act quickly."

Lara askance looked at her. "You're going to let me go in?" Morgau stepped closer with hands still raised, and Lara gripped her guns tighter. "Why did you kill that guard just now?"

The assassin quirked her head slightly, still staring at her. When she spoke, her voice was small, barely above a whisper. "Thank you for killing Eckhardt."

Lara shook her head, confused. What was the meaning of all this? Why wasn't she attacking her? Why were they simply standing here chatting?

"I just have one question," the girl said solemnly, "If you kill Karel, do I then have to serve you?"

A beat passed. "No, I wouldn't think so."

A small smile flickered across the assassin's face. "In that case, I'll help you."

"Help me? Explain." Lara demanded. Though she didn't want to believe Morgau, she had to admit if this was a charade, it was pointless. If Morgau wanted to kill or capture her, Lara could do nothing to stop her – so there was no reason for her to be lying right now. Slowly and with uncertainty, Lara holstered her pistols, reminded of the moment she decided to put away her guns and trust Kurtis. Neither woman moved from where they stood, however. The difference between Morgau and Kurtis was a matter of allegiances. When she'd met him, he was on his own side; when she'd met _her,_ she was on the _enemy's_ side.

Morgau broke the silence then. "Kurtis is being experimented on. We don't have much time; after a certain point, the changes will be irreversible."

Lara understood none of that. _Experiments? Changes?_ "But _why_ are you helping now? You're the one who brought him here!"

"It's not easy to explain. Eckhardt brainwashed me." She lifted her shirt to expose her torso, where a metal encasing covered her stomach. "He put this on me. It's what gives me my enhanced abilities -"

"I _know_ ," Lara snapped, impatient. "I read your patient file at Castle Kriegler. Get on with it." All she could think about was what Kurtis might be going through right now, thinking about what kind of _changes_ were happening.

Morgau dropped the hem of her shirt and spoke quickly. "Eckhardt brainwashed me. He and Karel controlled me through this corset, as I am dependent on the injections to sustain my life. When I captured Kurtis, he did something to me, I-I don't know _what_ exactly, but it seems to have broken the spell. I don't _have_ to do what the Cabal commands anymore!"

Lara crossed her arms and quirked a brow. "So you want to repay him?"

She bobbed her head from side to side slightly, as if thinking it over. "Not exactly... I just don't want anyone to go through that... He freed me so I want to free him..." her eyes glistened again, but she said nothing else. The area was silent then, the only sounds being the soft breeze blowing and the gentle hum from the floodlights.

Shaking her head in vexation, Lara started to move. "No time for this." she muttered, taking Morgau's arm as she passed her, and they walked towards the door. "As long as Kurtis isn't dead or dying, I really don't care."

Morgau swiped her key card to gain access, then propped the exit door open a crack with a cinder block.

"Stay here. I'll clear the area. As you know by now, I can't be killed easily."

She went inside and disappeared behind a stack of crates while the explorer waited outside. Too curious not to look, Lara peeped through the opening in the door. After a few moments of silence she started hearing gunfire, shouting and screaming. The scene she saw was unbelievable: The slight girl ran at an astounding speed, darting between her foes, jumping on them; slicing with a knife in one hand, shooting with a FAMAS rifle in another, even breaking a few necks. She had been shot a couple times in the arm and leg, but continued on as if nothing happened. The men hardly had time to aim their weapons before she moved on to a new enemy, silencing them permanently. The sounds of battle stopped and it was silent again. The last guard had been taken out, and all within the span of a minute.

Morgau came back into Lara's view with blood splattered on her trench coat and a crazed look in her eye. Though Lara was wary of her, she couldn't help feeling a little admiration; this woman, no – barely more than a girl – was incredible. It was only a shame most of her skill came from the unnatural enhancements forced upon her. The speed and strength she fought with was unnatural even for a man, and the way her wounds healed before her eyes was anything but normal.

"All clear." Morgau announced, her unhinged disposition fading back to something more normal. She wiped a drop of blood from her cheek, leaving a red smear in its place.

Lara followed her inside. It was a loading hangar, filled with stacks of crates and cases, likely full of building supplies and tools. The facility itself appeared to still be under construction. There were scaffolds erected, lumber and welding equipment, and even a mini excavator. And if the Nephilim were buried underground, they'd have further use for the heavy machinery and construction supplies in order to build support beams for the tunnels they'd dig.

They pushed the button for the lift and waited.

Lara examined Morgau's appearance then. She was youthful, her skin smooth and without wrinkles; the only thing marring her face was an oddly shaped scar on her right cheekbone, underneath her eye. Her hair was cut at the shoulders, thick and wavy and golden brown. In contrast to how it was the last time Lara saw her, it was combed and silky instead of tangled and dirty. Morgau was shorter than Lara by a few inches and less voluptuous, appearing more boyish and lithely built. And her eyes were clear and hazel now, not bloodshot and deranged as when she had attacked Lara and Kurtis at the hotel. Perhaps she _wasn't_ lying about having been brainwashed.

However, Lara still didn't fully trust her. But at this point this was her best option to getting to Kurtis. Her gut told her this was the right thing to do, and her gut was all she had to rely on at the moment. Everything Morgau told Lara matched what she read in her file at Castle Kriegler; so was it really far-fetched to think being in close proximity to another of her 'kind' would trigger something in her?

"I'm assuming you have some sort of plan?" Lara asked as the door to the elevator opened. They entered and Morgau pressed the button for the next floor.

"Yes. As far as Karel knows, I've not betrayed him. He thinks I've gone to capture you. But you shouldn't take too long; Karel is intelligent and will sense something is wrong, if he hasn't already. We'll split up here. There's two floors above us and a basement below. Trent is being kept in the lab."

"Looks like that's my exit, then." Lara said.

"I'm going to the top floor."

"And what will you do?"

"Take out any of Gunderson's men if I see them, look for a remedy to my alterations, or anything else that may help us. I'll meet back up with you at the warehouse to help you two escape. We can use my car."

"Do you know where Karel is keeping the Periapt Shards?"

She frowned and shook her head. "No, they don't tell me anything. You need those to kill him, right? I'll keep an eye out for those as well." The elevator doors opened at the next level and she looked at Lara. "You need to move quickly. Karel always seems to know what is happening, like a sixth sense. He may come after you himself."

"Got it. See you around." Lara said as she exited, and with that Morgau closed the elevator doors once more and Lara went on her way.

* * *

Morgau walked down the hall calmly, though alert, and headed straight for the break room. The map the workers had been looking at before had been removed, and the building seemed oddly quiet. Did they know she had turned on them? Were they all digging underground?

She steered cleared of Gunderson's and Karel's offices for the moment; if they were there, she wasn't ready to confront them. She went through the barracks here, and there was barely anyone in sight. The few Agency mercenaries she encountered she killed before they could make a sound and stuffed their bodies in empty lockers. She went to the armory next to stock up on ammunition and magazines for her rifle. One locker had a lock on it, so she extended her hand towards it and blasted the door off its hinges. When someone saw the door torn off it would doubtless prove her guilt, but at this point it would be obvious anyway from the corpses she left strewn about the warehouse. They had her signature all over them; there was no going back now.

The locker held Kurtis' possessions from when she had captured him. Shirts, pants, boots, shoulder rig, Boran X, and Chirugai. She fitted her fingers in the holes of the bladed disc once more, recalling the power she felt emit from the weapon, but she knew she could never use it at her level. It'd be more likely to chop her head off than listen to her. She grabbed a bag from one of the other lockers and started stuffing his possessions inside it. Once emptied, she zipped it shut and slung it over her shoulder.

She left the room and went to the next barracks – nothing of value in there, either. Then she went to one of the lesser offices, where she saw Jozef the medical assistant sitting at a desk, looking over a patient's chart – _Trent's chart_. He didn't move or look up at all when she entered; didn't communicate he knew she was there in any way. Normally, she was used to this. Everyone treated her like shit. But now she didn't have to take it anymore; she'd jumped ship and found refuge – even if temporarily – on another vessel.

Because it would be crazy to think this alliance was anything but temporary. Morgau had attacked them both, after all. She knew Lara was only doing this out of necessity, and she could see it in her face and body posture that she only trusted her as far as she could throw her. Trent, on the other hand... there might be hope there. He had cured her mind, he might be able to cure her body, too. Even if he couldn't, even if she was doomed to be overrun by the alchemical protrusions one day, it would still be worth it to try. Better to try and fail, than to forever be a pawn of the Cabal.

As she stared at Jozef, she was suddenly overcome with the urge to simply shoot him between the eyes. He was one of the few employees she had never daydreamed about killing (minus Karel or Eckhardt, whom she had been forbidden from thinking such thoughts about), but in that moment she was simply annoyed by him. She was a fearless killing machine, yes, but more than that, she was a _woman_ , and what greater insult could a woman face than to be completely ignored by their crush?

"Look at me." She said plainly. Surely he noticed her standing there, with a rifle and a bag strapped to her back? Couldn't he be curious about what she was doing?

He sighed. "What do you want." he asked, but it wasn't said like a question.

In a couple of short strides she reached the desk and pushed it over with her boot. It fell over onto Jozef, causing him to yelp in surprise, and he was knocked down and trapped beneath. She went over to stand above him.

"What are you doing?" he cried, finally looking at her.

She smiled. She finally caught his attention. Unfortunately for him, she no longer cared. All she could think about were the horrible noises she heard Trent making while Jozef performed unspeakable cruelties on him as if he weren't a living, breathing thing. Yes, it was truly unfortunate for Jozef he was born a psychopath, because she'd make sure the consequences were lethal.

His eyes hardened then as if angered by what he saw. "You pity him, don't you?"

She blinked. "Huh?"

"You feel sorry for that patient. I could tell, the way you looked at him when Rouzic and I wheeled him into the lab. You think you're helping him somehow, by coming here to beat on me? Well, I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be." she murmured. "How much of the alterations did you complete? Is he like me now?"

The Slovak huffed. "No. Though he's certainly different now..." he laughed cruelly. "Master changed his mind; wanted us to do something else with him, based off of one of Dr. Boaz's experiments." When he saw the alarm in her face, he cooed at her. "What? _You're_ the one who brought him here instead of the other. You could have given him a painless death if you so wished. But don't you worry, it won't be long for him."

"What does that mean?"

When he smirked at her scornfully, Morgau snapped. She stood on top of the desk, crushing him harder beneath it. He let out a groan and snarled at her. "I'll say nothing else."

It was true this was all her fault. If she had merely killed him as she was supposed to, or had found Lara first, the Lux Veritatis wouldn't have gone through all of this pain. But then she wouldn't have been freed, either. She felt both regret and satisfaction for capturing Trent.

Feeling the rage building slowly, she decided to take her time. She jumped off the desk, landing with her feet on either side of Jozef's head, then with a strong kick she threw the desk off of him. But before he could so much as move she was reaching down and dragging him by the neck to stand up. He was taller than her but she had no problem holding him still. He began to kick and hit her, trying to pry her hand from his throat, but he was weak and they did nothing to her.

Abruptly she let go and punched him square in the throat, crushing his windpipe. He gagged and reeled back, clutching at his neck and gasping for air. He fell on top of the turned-over desk, staring at her wide-eyed in panic. If she left him like that he could eventually suffocate, but she hadn't the time to sit and watch. His big puppy-dog eyes seemed to plead with her for help, and she was nearly persuaded – since she wasn't completely heartless like he was – but then she focused on her task. She needed to help Trent get out of this place before it was too late, before the Cabal destroyed the last of the Lux Veritatis.

So she approached the Slovak and brought her rifle to her shoulder. She aimed and shot at each of his kneecaps in turn. He cried out hoarsely and awful spurts of blood gushed from the wounds. Morgau then gently nudged his legs a little – but to him the movement was torture – causing him to cry out more, his voice so raspy from the damaged windpipe the noise was barely audible. He began to cry pitifully, and feeling like she couldn't stand to see people suffer anymore, even those wholly deserving of it, she put a bullet between his eyes as she had originally wanted.

Morgau then turned her attention to the notes that had been scattered across the floor in the scuffle. She picked up a sheet, the corner of it wet with his blood, and perused it. It was littered with medical jargon, but none of the processes were what she remembered from her own file. She frowned. Rouzic had talked about carrying on Eckhardt's Alchemical Vivisection and Augmentation Program, but perhaps he had been mistaken. But then what did Karel order them to do?

Come to think of it, where _was_ everyone? Usually the construction workers rotated in shifts and Agency mercenaries roamed the halls, but she encountered very few mercs and no workers. She thought belatedly she should have asked Jozef if he knew what was going on, but then she shrugged to herself. He probably wouldn't have told her anyway. Then something obvious occurred to her.

 _Had_ _she lead Lara into a trap after all?_

She dropped the sheet and felt her heart rate increase. As she charged out of the room she was immediately shot in the leg and overcome by the unexpected pain, she collapsed. She lay there, feeling the chemical processes absorb the bullet and knit the wound, while footsteps grew closer to her from down the hall. She kept her eyes closed and held her breath. When the footsteps stopped by her body, she opened her eyes and grabbing the person by the foot, pulled with all her might and sent them crashing to the floor. Rifle at the shoulder within the same second, she fired at the man on the floor and the others down the hall, sending them all scurrying for cover in the doorways. The assassin calmly but speedily jumped to her feet and sprinted to the nearest doorway.

Seemed like she was going to have to fight her way to Lara.


	12. Monster

**~ 1** **1** **: Monster ~**

* * *

Lara walked down the hall quietly. There were doors along both sides, and observation windows for some of the rooms. The first room on the right she entered and her heart sank. There on the floor were bloodstains. There was only a single cot in the corner, but it was obvious from the hardware on the walls that the room had been set up for multiple bunk beds. This had likely been barracks converted into a holding cell. A bucket was in the opposite corner, probably serving as a lavatory though it was empty. Chains with shackles were drilled into the wall. She hoped, though foolishly, that the blood wasn't her partner's.

The room adjacent was a type of exam room. All the surfaces were clear and clean, the gurney in the center having no bloodstains or fluids and the metal tray's contents straightened out and appearing unused. Against the walls were cabinets with glass doors containing bottles of unidentifiable liquid. The doors were locked, however. In the trash can was a discarded syringe and two empty vials.

She left the room and went across the hall. She opened the door quietly. The room was dark and from the light streaming in from the hall she could see it was living quarters. A series of bunk beds went across the length of the room, with lockers on the other side. At the end napped a couple of workers in their cots, so she took care not to wake them and quietly shut the door again.

Lara went down the hall and to her right was a large observation window, but the blinds had been shut on the inside so she couldn't see in. When she went inside, there was a gurney with leather straps hanging from it, and blood smears on it. Lara approached and touched it – the blood was congealed, so it had been there at least fifteen minutes. There was a folder left open on the table. Lara didn't understand all of it as it was written in German shorthand in an illegible scrawl, but from what she could make out it appeared to be notes and descriptions about adding mechanical modifications. Instructions on performing a kind of surgery. In addition to the notes strewn about the surface were spare wires, metal scraps and tubing, and a tray with surgery instruments.

In the corner was an unlocked cooler with a clear glass door, filled with more vials and bottles. These were labeled appropriately: there was morphine, sedatives, epinephrine, anticoagulants, antifibrinolytics, and others. She took several and a clean unopened syringe for each, storing them in her backpack.

The remaining two rooms were another barrack and an office. Lara entered the office and immediately drew a gun. There stood, with his back to her, a man facing a bookshelf. He was tall and emaciated, and when he heard her enter he turned slowly; without a surprised expression, as if he expected her. One eye was glass and along it was a long, vertical scar that went from forehead to chin. As she neared he let out an irritated sigh.

"Who are you? Where's Kurtis?" she asked, keeping the gun at her side but visible, in warning.

"Who am I? Why, who are you? _You're_ the intruder, not I." his voice was shrill and scratchy, unpleasant on the ears.

"Yes, but I'm also the one with the guns, so you better start talking." She was fed up with these cocky Cabal members.

The man stared at her for a moment in silence as if he wouldn't comply, but then he eventually answered. "My name is Luther Rouzic. Kurtis Heissturm is not here right now. You just missed him." he said with a sly smile, like there was something funny about it. "Master Karel wanted him down in the pit, though we weren't done with him yet."

"Done doing what?"

"His enhancements, of course. Eckhardt had so much success with the other Lux Veritatis, that Karel wanted to try the same with this one. However, we are not fully set up here to perform all the same modifications that the Vasiley girl received, so the Master requested something unique. A waste, if you ask me, there wasn't enough time to finish, but... who am I to question one of the higher race?"

Lara gripped her gun tightly. "What's been done to him? Is he going to be all right?" She asked. She couldn't keep the slight quiver from her voice.

"You'll see soon enough, I suppose. No need to ruin the surprise." he answered with a cruel smile, showing off his grotesque, rotting teeth.

Lara remembered where she heard of his name from, it was on several of the patient files in Castle Kriegler. "You're the one who tortured Morgau. That was your lab in Germany?"

"Ah, yes, my lab. Did you see my lovely trophy hall as well? I miss it..." he sighed wistfully. Lara gritted her teeth. "But Eckhardt did the torturing, and Master Karel will do the same for Heissturm. But with his goal so close at hand now, I suppose there will be no time to finish the work. There won't be any need for human super soldiers when the Nephilim race has risen."

"You're a psychopath." she declared, shaking her head.

"No, I'm just a librarian and archivist. These experiments were just a pet project handed down to me from Master Karel; I transcribed and witnessed Eckhardt's work, you see, so I am the only one left for the job after he died."

"But Karel _killed_ Eckhardt, why on Earth would you trust him? He'll kill you too!"

"Tsk tsk. It is a shame you are so stubborn. Karel could give you everything you've ever wanted, if you'd only submit."

Lara refrained from rolling her eyes. "I guess that kind of offer just doesn't appeal to someone who knows the cost it comes with."

"So what now? Will you kill me? It won't stop The Great Work from being completed!"

And with that she lifted her pistol and shot him square between the eyes, the bullet hole leaving a trickle of blood down his face. He fell to the floor, dead, and Lara walked up to him and looked down. "Good riddance." she muttered. After checking the desk and bookcases for anything of value to her – or to Morgau – she found some scrolls written in what appeared to be gibberish. She remembered what the Lux Veritatis language looked like, and this was something different. Could they be the Sleeper Scrolls? She carefully put them in her backpack and left the office and went to the elevator. Rouzic said Kurtis had been taken to the pit, which must be in the basement. That was her next stop.

* * *

When the elevator door opened to the basement floor, Lara walked into a large open circular arena. On all sides were crates, machinery, and piles of dirt. The center of the floor was a square made of grating, and underneath this was darkness. She could make out a dirt and rock tunnel they had been digging. How close they were to the Nephilim sleepers and how much farther they needed to dig, she didn't know. She was severely disadvantaged in that her enemies obtained the Sleeper Scrolls before her, and even if she had she'd need a Lux Veritatis to translate them. She had to rely on others more than she ever had before, and now her partner was kidnapped.

She strolled towards the center of the room and contemplated how everything had gone wrong, when she heard her name called out from above. Momentarily her heart rose, thinking it was Kurtis, then fell again when she saw who it actually was.

Standing on a walkway halfway up the wall was Joachim Karel. He wore the same dark clothing and blood red scarf as the last time she saw him, but he had his human façade on. Though he was several meters above her, she could see his cold, icy eyes perfectly clear, mesmerizing her. She froze, wondering how long he'd been standing there waiting for her.

"Have you reconsidered my offer?" He asked, voice echoing across the dome.

"I'm sorry?" She asked. As she looked at him her mind felt hazy... His voice seemed to penetrate her body, reverberate in her bones...

"The one you so hastily threw in my face," he said without malice. "I'm willing to offer my hand to you again, Lara. With your help, we could rule the world together."

"Together?"

The barest hint of a smile curved his lips. "I as your King and you as my Queen." His voice was like velvet, caressing her ears, her mind. "You would be eternal – I could _make_ you eternal – and your spirit would live in the Nephilim you bring back to life; like your children, they'd obey and follow you. You would sit at the highest place of honor: At my side. We'll rule together, and you'll have no more need to fight."

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. How would _she_ bring the Nephilim back to life? His words made her pause, and she actually considered accepting his offer. Why _did_ she continue to fight? She didn't really believe in saving the world, in the betterment of humanity. Ever since the events that transpired in Egypt, she'd been changed, been damaged – both physically and psychologically. Sure, she kept the baser parts of her personality – after all, humans don't change _that_ much – but she no longer looked at the world or at people the same. She didn't feel like the same person. She didn't know if she could ever go back to how she was, or if she even wanted to. So what was the point? Why not say ' _to hell with everything_ ' and watch the world burn?

She had been alone, completely alone, since Egypt. It had been how she always functioned, but it wasn't what she wanted anymore. Not since _he_ forced his way in. And that was the only thing stopping her – that she still had something, some _one_.

There was someone who knew her, and she needed to find him.

"Where's Kurtis?" she asked.

This had the effect of infuriating Karel. His countenance changed, the smile vanished and he seemed even colder than before, somehow. "I see you are still as stupid as before. Here I am, flattering you with the greatest gift a human could receive and you want to know where your Lux Veritatis _boyfriend_ is. Well, I shall return him to you. I'm afraid I must inform you he's not in the same condition as you left him."

He reached behind him and pulled a switch on the wall. In the middle of the ceiling a barrier retracted, and from the hole a giant bulbous glass pod began to descend.

"I confess I was ambivalent concerning what to do with the Lux Veritatis. You can imagine my surprise when he was delivered to me instead of you. Perhaps I should have killed him outright," Karel began, "but it seemed like such a waste. Unlike Eckhardt, I don't kill indiscriminately. A human that could be useful should never be destroyed, at least until they've served their purpose. Wouldn't you agree?"

She shook her head. "We're nothing alike, Karel."

"You shouldn't be so quick to distance yourself from me. Besides, I knew you'd come straight to me with his life on the line. It's nothing against your intelligence, I assure you; a mortal being simply cannot compare to an immortal."

"A risky maneuver, leading me here. You should hope it doesn't come back to bite you." She snapped, the haze from before completely gone now.

"It's no risk at all; you'll kill him for me, or he'll die trying to kill you – either way, the issue is resolved. He's never been a _real_ threat to me. It will be just you and me from now on, but since you've decided to persist in your foolishness, I'm not ready for you to accompany me just yet. Now...you could do him a kindness, and put him out of his misery yourself, or you could be a coward and let him be tortured to death. Every moment he's in that is agony for him, but that's only just. The Lux Veritatis have been a thorn in the side to my kind for centuries. If he were anyone else, I wouldn't wish for him to suffer - but you understand I cannot allow him to live. So, Lara... until circumstances find us on more equitable terms, _ciao_." Karel then exited through the door by the switch.

The glass pod had stopped moving, and its contents were now visible from her line of sight. There was a human figure chained to a beam inside it, completely naked except for a metal corset that encased its torso. It had black hair, sleeked shiny with a greenish fluid, that hung limply over its forehead. Its blue eyes were clouded and darted around erratically. The skin was as pale as death and glistened with sweat and other fluids. From the metal corset protruded wires and filaments that somehow connected at various points to the being's shoulders and hips, and two prominent tubes that connected from its chest to the beam of the pod. Its body hung limply around the chains, its arms extended and held by chains in a parody of the Crucifixion.

Kurtis did not look like something that one would call 'human'.

Though he made eye contact with her briefly, his limbs twitched and his eyes didn't focus on one thing too long. It seemed as though he was being controlled by the machinery and wires attached to him. She wasn't even sure he was really _there_ , or if what she saw was only his mutilated body. All along his exposed flesh were signs of torture: red marks, deep bruises, cuts and incisions, holes punctured or burned into him. Lara's heart ached as she took note of all this. She swore right then and there that she'd get even.

"Kurtis? Can you hear me?" she asked tentatively, and just then it seemed the creature finally realized she was there. A green glow of energy seemed to surge across the surface of the glass to build up around his body and concentrated at his suspended hands. With a howl of pain it was released, an energy bolt shooting straight towards Lara.

Lara dove out of the way just in time. The wall behind her sizzled with the impact.

"Right, best not to let that touch me." she murmured to herself.

She looked back up at Kurtis. Blood slowly started to seep out of some of his wounds, having been reopened during the assault. If Karel was telling the truth, this thing was slowly killing him, draining his life force. Each one of those energy bolts was formed by sapping his strength.

She took in her surroundings. There were crates stacked all around that she could climb and leap across to reach the platform where the door Karel had just went through was on, but she had to find a way to save Kurtis, no matter how enraged she was; there'd be time for payback later. In any case, she wasn't prepared to confront Karel yet. She had neither the Periapt Shards nor the Sanglyph; she had come with the sole intention of rescuing Kurtis, and had foolishly hoped she wouldn't even have to encounter the Nephilim.

But could he be saved? She considered if she was too late, but discarded the possibility as soon as she thought it. No, she refused to believe it. Besides, he was mostly still human looking. The alterations didn't appear to be as extensive as the ones Morgau had undergone, and this matched up with what Rouzic had said about him not being 'done'. Despite what he said, Karel was clearly a sadist and a liar who got off on tormenting her by making her choose how Kurtis would die. If she could get him down, get those things off him, perhaps he'd have a chance.

So how to get Kurtis down from that hanging pod then?

Lara jumped out of the way of another attack and began to climb the crates as quickly as she could. With each lightening bolt of energy that was released, Kurtis grunted and moaned in pain and more blood slowly leaked out, leaving trails of red down the length of his body. One of the bolts grazed her calf when she wasn't paying mind and searing hot pain flared up her leg. With a cry she glanced down and through the hole that had been burned through her pants, she saw the angry red welt that had started to form.

She continued climbing, being more careful to avoid the attacks and jumping across stacks of crates to get closer to the railing. When she finally reached the highest stack of crates, she started to take careful aim at the chain but quickly grabbed the ledge and hung down as an energy bolt struck nearby. When it passed she hauled herself back up and took a running jump, pushing her boots against the edge of the crate at the last possible second. As she flew through the air she aimed her pistol and shot several times in quick succession until the metal arm that held the contraption to the ceiling finally broke. She grabbed onto it with her free hand and holstered her pistol. With her added weight the arm began to creak then tore free, and as it started to fall she grabbed onto the length of metal still hanging.

She dangled precariously, and watched as the pod crashed to the ground, the glass shattering and the center beam tumbling away. The chain holding Kurtis' body and arms were loosened and the tubes connecting him to the pole snapped off his chest. The air was filled with crackling and hissing as some of the filaments were forcibly detached and the machinery died.

Lara climbed the rest of the metal arm until she reached the ceiling, where it was a type of metal grating where it had opened. She fitted her fingers through the holes and used it to monkey swing close to the walkway Karel had been on. She swung herself over to it and let go, falling at an angle and landing on the platform. She then safely dropped down to the arena.

She heard a cough and ran over to where Kurtis lay.

"Can you hear me?" she asked as she examined him. The metal plate was still encasing his ribs and wires still protruded from him, but most no longer kept him connected to the machine. His eyes were closed but he was still breathing, albeit shallowly. The green glow had left him.

"Oh, Kurtis..." she whispered, and felt tears well in her eyes that she quickly blinked back. She brushed the backs of her fingers along his cheek, feeling the stubble there. "What did he do to you?"

"Lara!" a female voice shouted from behind. Lara turned to see Morgau running over and kneeling beside them.

"Morgau, help me remove this!" she said, gesturing to the metallic plate and wires.

They began pulling the filaments from his hips and shoulders, the slick sucking sound they made as they were pulled free making the women wince. The entire time Kurtis remained still, not moving or reacting other than his breathing going in and out. They then flipped him onto his front. Morgau tapped on a tiny clasp on the metal corset.

"These. Undo all these."

They started unhinging all the little clasps that surrounded the perimeter of the plate armor, using a pocket knife on some of the sturdier ones. Along the back there was even some stitching they had to cut, where his skin had been sewn through small holes in the armor. Once they were all open, Lara paused.

"Wait. Is it safe to remove?" She glanced at the assassin's torso, reminded of the fact she couldn't remove it without dying. But Morgau nodded.

"I talked to the scientist who performed the mutilations and saw his notes. They didn't do the same thing to him; there's no internal physiological changes."

Needing no further permission, Lara dug her fingers between the seams and popped the pieces free of each other.

"This must have been sending electrical currents through his body," Morgau said, holding one of the wires. "They made him something 'other'." She looked up at Lara. "He would have been unaware of what was happening."

Lara nodded. "Do you have anything to cover his...?" She didn't look down; she'd save him _that_ dignity, at least.

"Here." Morgau took the bag she had discarded at her feet and opened it. She took out Kurtis' pants and with Lara's help, slipped them through his legs and over his hips where she buttoned them. Then the girl started looking through Lara's backpack, pulling out a vial of medicine. Lara read the label: _epinephrine._ Her eyes widened in horror.

"No!" She grabbed for the container but the smaller woman quickly moved it out of her reach, using her other hand to hold her back.

"Listen to me!" she hissed, staring her in the eyes. "We don't know the extent of his injuries. We need him awake so he can tell us if anything is wrong, or he'll die before we can get him to safety." Lara stopped struggling, furiously cursing the sense in that statement. But if they woke Kurtis, he'd _feel_ everything. _And what if he wasn't the same...?_

She nodded then, and Morgau used a clean syringe and injected the drug into a vein close to his heart. After a beat, Kurtis' eyes shot open and his shoulders arched back, lurching his chest forward. He gasped a ragged breath in. He looked like a man who'd almost drowned, gasping for fresh air.

Then his eyes darted back and forth frantically and his breathing became shallow and fast. Lara quickly placed a hand on his chest and leaned forward to get his attention.

In what she hoped was a soothing voice, she called his name. "Look at me, Kurtis. I know it hurts, but you need to tell us -" He broke her off with a loud groan as he winced. Morgau got involved then, towering over him and taking hold of his head so he'd be forced to look in her eyes.

"Focus. Is anything broken, do you have any internal bleeding? I know you can sense it. Don't answer, only nod your head yes or shake your head no."

After what seemed like a minute of silence from him, but was probably only a few seconds – his eyes squeezed shut the whole time – he finally shook his head no. Lara let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, good."

The tomb raider then looked to Morgau and said "Let's get him out of here." They each slung an arm of his over their shoulders and stood, and began to exit the arena, carrying him.

"Did you find the Shards?" Lara asked.

Morgau shook her head. "No, I looked around some but then some of Gunderson's men got in my way. It can wait for now. We need to get Kurtis out of here to heal. He should be able to repair himself with enough rest." Her tone was confident but her expression dubious. "We cannot defeat Karel without him, so we need to retreat for now."

"Right."

* * *

The two of them carried Kurtis out of the arena and into the elevator, Lara leaning against the wall to rest. She panted and wiped the sweat from her brow as the elevator climbed. Kurtis' eyes were closed again, his breathing quiet but steady, the adrenaline appearing to have mostly worn off, though he was still conscious. When the lift reached the ground floor and the door opened, they once again slung Kurtis' arms around their shoulders and slowly carried him out. The corpses from before were still there and the smell of blood was overwhelming in the warehouse.

As they got near the exit door they arrived from, they heard the beeping of the lift descending. Lara and Morgau looked at each other, and wordlessly they increased their pace, though each lurch caused Kurtis to wince in pain. Before they could leave the building, though, the elevator doors opened once more. The women looked back simultaneously. There in the elevator stood Marten Gunderson flanked on all sides by Agency mercenaries.

Immediately Morgau dropped Kurtis' arm, dug through her coat pocket and retrieved a set of keys. Tossing them to Lara who caught them fluidly, she then threw the bag on her back over by the door and slung the rifle up to her shoulder and began firing at the men. Lara hastily flung herself and Kurtis behind a crate near the door, taking cover from the return fire.

As Kurtis fell he let out a moan and groggily opened his eyes. His blue eyes, though clouded in a haze, seemed to shine to Lara when they caught hold of her face. She gazed back, speechless. She thought she saw a meager smile tug at the corner of his mouth, but then it was gone and he closed his eyes again, letting out a sigh.

"Hurry!" she heard Morgau shout at her, and she was once again triggered by the noises and commotion to get moving. She hefted Kurtis' arm around her shoulder again – now much heavier without the other woman helping – and wrapped her other arm around his torso, and with great difficulty dashed out the door.

Once in the relative safety of the outdoors, she took Kurtis to the jeep parked nearby and laid him carefully in the backseat. She went into the driver's seat and started the vehicle, waiting for the other woman to come out. Morgau could take care of herself, but she couldn't wait forever. Karel was clearly determined to possess her to fulfill his goals.

She watched the door in the rear-view mirror when a mercenaries came out, slamming the door against the wall in his haste. She saw him noticing the jeep just as she began to drive, and he raised his rifle and fired at her, missing the car as she sped off. Lara turned the car sharply around the corner of the building, avoiding colliding with the security fence on one side and the facility on the other, and drove. She swerved around other parked trucks and jeeps, went all the way around the building. When she turned back to where she started, the merc that had been there was lying dead on the floor and Morgau was flagging her down.

Lara slowed the vehicle but didn't stop, and Morgau ran and jumped onto it, bag and rifle strapped to her back. As she drove off again the assassin opened the passenger door and got in, then put the bag with Kurtis' belongings in the foot space of the backseat. Lara turned the corner again, and ahead of her was the gate for the fence. It was closed, so the tomb raider slammed on the gas, sped up, and drove straight through, breaking the gate open.

The three of them made their escape, driving straight through the night and out of the Cappadocian valley.

* * *

 **A/N:** _I was really inspired to write the Pod Monster Kurtis scene by "Symposium Magarum" also known as the Oktavia von Seckendorff theme from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura_

 _~ Clairesail_


	13. Reflections

**~ 12 : Reflections ~**

* * *

 _"Do you think the Cabal will leave us alone if we stop fighting?" The man with piercing blue eyes asked his son, holding him by the shoulders. His blonde hair, streaked with gray and white, tousled about his shoulders in the wind. His deep voice, lightly accented from a childhood spent speaking German, went on. "Even if we give up, they'll hunt each of us down until we're all dead. And how do you think the world will fair with them at the helm? They'll slaughter everyone who is not useful to their purposes, they'll kill all who refuse to bend the knee._

 _"And that's not all. Not even those who are spared will be safe. They'll unleash demons to roam the earth freely. I would never wish it on you, but one day soon the time will come when you'll fight a demon yourself, and you'll see what hell looks like. This is the fate that awaits everyone if we sit by idly. We have to do this, my son. We're the only ones who can. God gifted us with the Light for this purpose, and do we know better than God?" He placed an open palm on the side of the boy's face. He was now almost eye-level with his father and had the same striking blue eyes, but his dark hair came from his mother._

 _"Die Licht der Wahrheit lebt in dir," his father continued, "We have to stand together to defeat evil; you know what the scriptures say."_

 _The boy,_ _not more than fifteen years,_ _looked up at his father,_ _and_ _in_ _dejected monotone_ _said:_ _"A house divided a_ _gainst_ _itself cannot stand."_

* * *

 _He didn't remember how he got there, barely recalled who he was, but knew he didn't belong there._ _He_ _imagined_ _his father and all the other Lux Veritatis;_ _thought of_ _what they endured, what they suffered through._ _If this was the end, there was no reason to keep going; it would only result in more violation._ _It would make sense to give up, no one would fault him or blame him for it. His father would be proud_ _of him_ _for holding out so long, he'd done so much more than anyone had ever dreamed, he was free to let go... But he couldn't. Through the pain and suffering, his sanity held on with taut, gripping fingers to one image,_ _even more profound than the others._

 _That image, her image, floated across his subconscious, guiding and protecting him. Her_ _fierce,_ _chestnut brown eyes,_ _her_ _hair long and woven down her back. He imagined_ _the day he could caress it, he bet it would feel_ _soft and silky,_ _bet_ _it would smell_ _of her light, feminine fragrance he'd grown accustomed to_ _. Her eyes_ _would shine_ _with affection – and dare he hope – something more. Something deeper, that he'd never experienced before. For when she looked at him, whether in pity or anger or indifference,_ _this feeling swelled in his chest so fully he_ _thought_ _it would burst at any moment. The dam would break, and he'd be reduced to a shell of_ _a_ _man without her._

 _He remembered when he saw her in that caf_ _é_ _. Even dirty, disheveled, and bitter – she was breathtaking. There was no woman in the world like her, he was sure of it._ _He was an idiot to think he could ignore it. He was way over his head from th_ _e_ _moment his_ _gaze met_ _hers_ _for the first time, so_ _tongue-tied_ _that all he could do was wave her off_ _when she approached_ _._

 _So when he laid there on that table, his physical body unable to feel anything but the pain that coursed through it, he thought of her. He thought of her and endured._

* * *

It was still dark out when Lara and Morgau arrived at the small apartment complex in Ankara, Turkey, with a sleeping Kurtis in the back seat. A middle-aged portly man dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt met them outside the door to his small apartment and helped them carry the unconscious Kurtis inside under the cover of darkness. They placed him on the bed in the spare room and congregated in the sitting room.

"Lara!" Jean-Yves cried with relief and gave her a hug.

"My faithful friend." She greeted back less enthusiastically, hugging him tightly. When Lara phoned Jean the day before leaving for Germany to confirm his address for receiving a package, she was surprised to find out he was temporarily residing in Turkey until the summer. Being one whom she considered trustworthy, reliable, and accepting of risk without asking too many questions, he was an optimal choice for safe-keeping the Sanglyph in the event the Cabal ransacked her manor. It was just so rare to find Jean outside of the black land of Egypt, but it turned out to be extremely convenient in this case, as Ankara was only a few hours north of Cappadocia.

"So Lara," he began, sitting on the sofa across from them. "Care to tell why there is a half-naked and unconscious man in my house? I take it it has something to do with the package you sent me some days ago."

"Well, it's a long story..." she hedged.

"You barely speak to me for two years, then suddenly? A phone call out of the blue, a mysterious package shows up that you warn me never to open. You say you will come retrieve it at a later date, and now you phone me in the middle of the night, show up with this, ah.." he struggled with the words for a moment to describe Morgau without being offensive, but then gave up, "...and a barely dressed, injured man."

"I'll explain later. Just know that we're trying to stop the end of the world..again."

"Eh bien, just an average day, no?" Jean and Lara shared a smile. Morgau looked between the two, her face betraying her discomfort. "Can you at least introduce your new friends?" he asked.

"Yes. Jean-Yves, this is Morgau Vasiley. Morgau, this is Jean-Yves."

"A pleasure," Jean said. Morgau nodded once, but did not extend her hand nor did her gaze relay warmth.

"The man in the room is Kurtis Trent. He's... well, we're working together. He needs to rest right now, he's been hurt."

"Mon Dieu! He looks in bad shape. Does he need a hospital?"

"No, he can... care for himself." she evaded. She was unsure of how much Kurtis would want her sharing, but concerning how secretive he was, she concluded it would be very little.

"Hmm" he hummed thoughtfully. "It appears you've been keeping yourself busy. I heard about your exoneration. I knew you did not kill Von Croy."

Lara looked away. It had only been a few months since she had stared down into his lifeless eyes, wondering if perhaps she was the cause of it. Even though she knew the truth now, it made it no easier. That whole situation was painful no matter how she looked at it.

"And what are you doing here in Turkey, Jean? Have you finally grown tired of Egypt?" she asked playfully.

"Ah, never. I am simply doing a guest professorship at Bilkent University, teaching a special course on - "

"Let me guess, Egyptology?" Lara interrupted with a smile. Jean smiled back.

"Oui. And it seems as though it is convenient timing for you as well..."

"Much more convenient than flying to Egypt." She stood to excuse herself. "I'm going to go check on Kurtis. He needs aid."

Jean nodded and stood. "Of course. I will find somewhere for Mademoiselle Vasiley to retire for the night."

Lara went into the guest room and sat on the bed next to where Kurtis lay. During the drive to Ankara his breathing had returned to a normal rate and some of his more superficial wounds already looked better, more healed. The blood clotted on the ones that had been reopened, but in the meantime new bruises had blossomed, painting his entire back and chest in a scattering of deep purple splotches.

When Kurtis was run through by Boaz, he said it took about two months to heal. This probably wasn't as bad as that, though it certainly _appeared_ so. He wasn't in danger of bleeding out; there were no open wounds. There were no broken bones, no internal injuries, but he had been severely abused and experimented on – and likely, from what little she knew – would need to return to a Bloodline room to be properly healed. The problem was they didn't even have a week before Karel would finish preparations. In fact, for all they knew, he could be ready the next day. And once finished, there would be nothing to keep him from coming after them himself.

She gently placed a hand on his forehead to feel his temperature. He was hot with fever, but she supposed in his state that was not a bad thing; it meant his body was fighting off infection. He had a thin sheen of sweat at his hairline and in the dip between his pectoral muscles. Taking a medical kit out from her backpack as well as some of the morphine, she cleaned, disinfected, and rubbed ointment on his cuts and burns. She placed bandages over all the small holes at his hips and shoulders, already having healed to a degree they wouldn't need to be stitched.

He murmured in his sleep, twitching slightly with each of her ministrations. Following the guide on the vial, she finally administered some pain killer to him, and feeling a strange mixture of exhaustion and relief, she lay down next to him and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

She was woken the next morning by the sound of small whimpers coming from beside her. She had fallen asleep on that small bed, so tired she was the previous night that she couldn't be bothered to find a more comfortable arrangement. She sat up and looked at the man that lay next to her. Kurtis' brows were pinched and his eyelids fluttered; he was dreaming.

She called his name softly, and he suddenly jerked up, then winced and slowly laid back down. Groaning, he cracked his eyes open and looked at her.

"Lara." he croaked her name. "What happened?" His voice was rough and raw.

"How do you feel?" She asked instead of answering.

"Like shit. Though, better now that I'm in bed with you." There was a miniscule twitch at the corner of his mouth.

She rolled her eyes. Of course he'd be joking even though he almost died, _again._ "Hold on, be right back." She got up and went into the kitchen, filled a glass with water and brought it back to him. He gingerly sat up again and took a couple of gulps greedily, some of the water spilling from the edges and dripping down his chin. He didn't seem to care and wiped it away after he was done.

"So you don't remember anything that happened?" she asked.

He cleared his throat and gazed down his body, seemingly noticing the deep purple bruising and taped up injuries that marred his torso for the first time. "I- oh _whoa_ ," he exclaimed. "S _hit._ "

"Do I interpret that as you do?"

"You could say that..."

"So what happened?"

He squinted his eyes at her for a second before understanding flashed across his face.

"In the crypt?" She nodded. "I was just working my way through it, when that Vasiley girl snuck up on me. We went at each other for a bit, and I was starting to get the upper hand, but then she managed to get a syringe in my neck. I guess she drugged me; I passed out. Woke up... in a dark room...thought I was gonna die in there." He looked her in the eyes, gleaming with sincerity. "Thank you, for saving me, though that was really stupid of you."

Lara crossed her arms and looked away. "That's not how you thank someone." Though she was secretly pleased inside.

"I'll have to give you a proper thank you later." The meaning of that hung in the air unspoken. "How did you find me?"

"I never found the Sleeper Scrolls at Montségur, I suppose Karel had them all along... sent us on a wild goose chase. But I found a clue there that led me to the Cappadocian valley. Then when I went to infiltrate the facility you were being held at, I had some... unexpected help. You may not like this."

"What?" he asked. Just then, before she could answer, Morgau opened the door to ask Lara a question. Kurtis immediately rolled from the bed, landing on the floor with a thud. His hands searched for a weapon. "What's _she_ doing here!?"

"Calm down, just relax." Lara said, holding a hand out. "Let her explain."

* * *

After Lara and Morgau told him what happened, Kurtis calmed down but still eyed Morgau warily where she stood leaning against the door frame.

"So it worked... hmm." he stated plainly.

The small girl looked at him peculiarly. "You did it on purpose? What _did_ you do to me?"

"An incantation to expel a demon from an unwilling host."

Lara raised her eyebrows. "You performed an exorcism on her?"

"Not _exactly_ an exorcism. And it only works if the person allows it."

"I had a demon in me?" Morgau asked.

Kurtis shook his head. "Probably not an actual demon...but whatever Eckhardt did to you was of the Dark Arts, and it looks like the incantation works on his brand of brainwashing, too. I didn't believe you were working with the Cabal willingly. There's just no way a Lux Veritatis could do that, no matter how disillusioned they may be with the Order. We all know how dangerous the Cabal is. When I read in your file that Eckhardt put you in his containment pit for four days, I knew there had to be something else going on with you."

Morgau shuddered from the memory. "I owe you both a great deal." she swallowed, and looked to each of them in turn. "To you, Lara, for killing Eckhardt. And to you, Kurtis, for finally breaking the indoctrination. I'm sorry for trying to hurt you both earlier. The only problem for me now is, that I have signed my own death warrant by leaving. The interventions the Cabal were giving me were keeping me alive. Without them I will grow weaker and eventually die."

"The elixirs." Lara said. "What will happen if you stop taking them?"

"I don't know for sure...but you saw all those dead in Germany, right? With those...metallic tumors? It's a side effect of the alchemy. I am functioning at a level above normal humans: increased speed, strength, agility, healing -" Kurtis snorted and murmured "I'll say" but she continued on as if not hearing him "– but it wears my body down that much quicker. I am only flesh and blood, after all. As a result, I need these alchemical elixirs Eckhardt created to keep myself functioning. It is similar to how Eckhardt needed his Glove to prolong his life. He was only immortal so long as he continued to steal his victim's essence."

She pushed away from the door and lifted up her shirt, showing off her metal corselet again, her fingers brushing against the input opening and the tiny clasps. "This girdle dispenses the potion throughout my body and keeps it working at the augmented rate. Without it my body will start to decline. But with the elixirs I will likely eventually be overcome by those tumors anyway. Either way, I cannot continue to live in this manner. I was hoping I could find _something_ to fix myself. Karel promised me that he had a cure for me if I continued to serve him as I did Eckhardt, but I don't believe him. He's promised many people immortality but has yet to deliver on a single one. I doubt he's even _capable_ of fulfilling any of his promises."

Lara knitted her brows in thought. "What do you know about Karel? About his plan?"

"Not much. I worked with Gunderson more than him. I was just a soldier so they purposefully kept things from me; the plans were on a need-to-know basis."

"Surely you knew something? Why they wanted to keep me alive?"

* * *

 _The footsteps of the other mercenaries rang out through the castle, the stone floors and walls projecting their sound. Morgau looked up at_ _the towering Marten_ _Gunderson who slammed his fist against the wall, causing a painting_ _hanging nearby_ _to fall down_ _from the vibration_ _. He looked at her then and took a deep breath to calm_ _his rage_ _._

 _"It is your turn now, girl."_

 _"What are my orders?" she asked stoically and stared at him blankly._

 _"Find them. Capture Lara Croft, do not harm her. Kill the man." He contemplated her a moment, then added as an afterthought, "Bring no weapons."_

 _Morgau frowned. "How do you expect me to accomplish this?"_

 _He smiled at her bordering on a sneer. "No weapons. The Croft woman is very important to Master Karel's plans; we can take no risks that you'll fly into a rage and accidentally shoot her."_

 _"Why is she needed?" she asked innocently, but was met with a grimace._

 _"Do not concern yourself with matters above your pay grade. You are a resourceful girl, I'm sure you can manage without weapons." He reached inside his trench coat and retrieved a vial, holding it out between his thumb and forefinger. "Take this. This is a sedative for the woman. Dispose of Trent, inject this in Croft. Those are your orders. Set out now."_

 _She took the vial and he turned away to address his troops._

* * *

"When I attacked the second time, Kurtis healed me and I was unable to bring myself to kill him. Since I still needed to bring something back to the base, I brought him instead. Karel wasn't pleased, and well... you know the rest. But I was never told any details. However... I did take a look at one of the maps of their dig once. I'm not sure how much help that can be when I barely got a look at it in the first place."

Kurtis addressed her. "If we get you a pencil and paper, do you think you could try? Anything is better than nothing at this point."

She nodded. "I can try, I suppose. Maybe more will come back to me once I start."

Lara jumped up from the bed then, remembering something important. She rummaged through her backpack until pulling out several rolled up pieces of old paper, then sat back down. "I found these in Rouzic's office. These are the Sleeper Scrolls, correct?"

Kurtis leaned forward, curious, and took one of the scrolls from her hands and unraveling it. But it was Morgau who answered. "Yes. I retrieved them for Karel over a month ago and translated them for him."

"So then you know the location of the Sleepers?"

"No, in fact I don't. They have a triple layer of encoding. First, they are transcribed in a made-up language based on the Order's secret method of writing. But it can only be deciphered through use of psychic powers, so only one of the Lux Veritatis can do it. Then the decoded information is written in riddles and metaphors. So while I saw what it said, I've no idea what it means. Karel was quickly able to understand the meaning, however. It must be knowledge a more advanced member of the Order would have, something also familiar to the Nephilim." Both women looked to Kurtis then.

"Shouldn't be a problem for me." he declared confidently as he carefully rolled the parchment back up.

Lara chewed on her lip then, looking to Morgau. "Before you arrived," she began, drawing the attention of her two interlocutors to her, "Karel said something...strange to me."

Kurtis and Morgau looked at her expectantly. She wondered how much she should tell them. _Certainly not the part where_ _I_ _considered his proposal,_ she thought.

"He asked me to be his Queen." She began. She noticed Kurtis cast his eyes down at that moment. "He said I would be immortal and would bring back the Nephilim race."

"Stinks like bullshit. What did you say?" Morgau asked, but before Lara answered Kurtis spoke up.

"It's a ritual. Nephilim can revive other sleeping Nephilim by taking the spirit of a human and giving it to them. You'd be sacrificed to bring them back to life."

Suddenly Lara was reminded of a statue of an angel cradling a woman. "You knew about this before, didn't you, and didn't say anything?"

"I didn't know Karel was planning on performing the ritual, nor did I know he'd settled on _you_ as the sacrifice, or I would have told you."

"But why me?" she wondered aloud.

"Nephilim are proud creatures. Only the strongest, most beautiful, perfect specimen would be considered worthy of being made their equal and reviving their race. Makes sense he'd set his heart on you."

If Lara was the blushing type, she'd blush at those words. It was only a shame he said them under such unfortunate circumstances. "The inscription at the tomb said 'the Queen of Angels', and Karel used that phrasing as well."

"According to their own beliefs, the sacrifice needs to be a woman who's never given birth – hence the 'virgin womb' part – something about the mother of the Nephilim needing to be 'pure' or something. When you'd be sacrificed, you wouldn't actually die in the literal sense. Your human self would die and you'd transform into a Nephilim. You'd be revered by all the others like royalty and your sacrificed human spirit would give them life. A bunch of bullshit, as Morgau said. I don't know if Karel really believes that but he must at least think sacrificing you will work."

Morgau added: "Or he's out of ideas and desperate. If she just stays hidden from him long enough for us to kill them, there should be no danger, right? He can't revive them without her." Lara frowned, not liking this train of thought. She was _not_ going to run away and hide. That wasn't how she operated, not now, not ever. She was going to make Karel pay.

Kurtis scratched the back his head. "Well, I don't know about that. There's nothing stopping him from swiping, say, a prostitute off the street and using her. Of course, if he _does_ really believe in the ritual, he wouldn't want a hooker's spirit inhabiting his brothers and sisters."

"At any rate," Lara said, "we shouldn't wait around too long. I think the only thing stopping him right now is that they still haven't uncovered the burial ground."

"Right."

"In the mean time _you_ need to rest and heal." She said, pointing a finger at Kurtis. "Fortunately for us, Jean-Yves was already in Turkey when I sent the Sanglyph to him. We should be able to use that to destroy the Sleepers. Then it's only a matter of getting the Periapt Shards and killing Karel. No problem." She said with far more confidence than she felt.

* * *

Morgau left the room so Kurtis could rest, and Lara went to do the same but was stopped by Kurtis grabbing her wrist.

"Wait," he said quietly.

Lara sat back down on the bed and lifted an eyebrow at him. Already his wounds looked improved from sleep. He kept reassuring them that they were mostly superficial, and perhaps he wasn't exaggerating. As long as he continued his regenerative sleep, he would be fine physically. But she worried the ones to his psyche were far more serious. "What is it?" she asked.

"Just...stay here, OK? I mean, if it's not a bother."

"It's not." She smiled slightly and leaned back against the headboard next to him. The space was so small their thighs touched, and despite herself she felt her cheeks grow warm. Maybe she _was_ capable of blushing.

"I thought I was gonna die," Kurtis said with a somber tone. "I would have, too, if you hadn't come back for me." He stared straight ahead, as though not speaking to her. Lara looked forward too, feeling it would give him a sense of privacy if she weren't staring at him. "I always hated having these powers. They made my life hell, they brought me nothing good. But now I see why my father pushed me so much. I see now, that he was just doing what he could to protect me. It's only because of the training he made me endure that I've survived this long. As much as I wish I could bow out, someone's gotta do this job. Someone's gotta bear the burden, or innocent people like my mother, like Morgau – like your mentor – will continue to suffer.

"Funny it took being tortured to put things in perspective. I've always been a hard-headed shit. If it comes down to it, I won't let you die. It's my duty to kill Karel, even if it means forfeiting my life in the process. But it's not yours." He looked at her then and their eyes met. "I swear it."

Heart beating wildly, she looked away from that gaze that seemed to burn holes through her and see inside her very soul. She gently placed her hand on top of his, where it laid between them. From her peripherals she saw him go still.

As she subtly examined his features, she allowed her mind to wander back to when he almost kissed her, and imagined how it could have been. Would his lips be soft or chapped? Would his chin hairs tickle her, would they be scratchy? Would he cup her face, try to take things further, or would he play a gentleman and let her set the pace?

"We can't let ourselves get distracted." she said in a quiet voice. "Defeating Karel... it's the most important thing right now. More than preserving my life."

She wondered where this line of thought was coming from. Perhaps from that warmth radiating from his hand, where he'd turned his palm around and laced their fingers together while she wasn't paying attention.

"It wasn't Karel I was thinking about when I was in that room." he replied softly, "it wasn't defeating him that kept me going."

Her eyes widened, but she said nothing to that. Instead, she pulled out the scarab amulet that she had hanging from her neck, normally concealed under her top, and held it in her hands. She examined its blueish green jewel-toned body, felt its cold, rough metal legs between her fingers. She turned its body to Kurtis, and he reached out and took it in his hand to study it.

"The shaman who saved me – her name was Putai. She gave me this. She said it was for strength, that it would guide me." Lara inhaled deeply and released it slowly, collecting her thoughts. "She was murdered, along with the whole tribe. It was my fault. And ever since she died, I haven't felt it since. I've been alone in this until you came along."

She felt the amulet fall to her chest again as Kurtis let go, and his fingers brushed against her collarbone and across her shoulders as his hand retreated. Shivers ran up and down her back. She looked over at him then. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, and his gaze roamed slowly from the scarab, up her neck and around her features, until settling on her eyes. He sighed. He didn't need to say anything for the understanding was written plainly on his face.

She wanted so badly to reach over and touch him, smooth out the wrinkles that were creasing his brow. In his eyes she could see a weariness; in his movements a haunted countenance. It reminded her of herself, and how damaged she felt after her traumatizing experience two years ago.

Though he put up a brave front when he talked about being ready to sacrifice himself to kill Karel, she feared for him. She was thankful Morgau had come to their side, for without her she wasn't sure they'd stand a chance. But even with her help, they were just three tired, damaged souls; what could they possibly do to an immortal half-angel?

"Well," she said and stood up, "You must be famished. Stay in bed, and I'll go see what Jean has around here to eat."

* * *

 **A/N:** _"Die Licht der Wahrheit lebt in dir" = "The light of truth lives in you"_

 _I listened to "Angela Undress" by Thomas Newman from the American Beauty soundtrack while writing the scene between Lara and Kurtis._

 _~ Clairesail_


	14. Origin

**~ 1** **3** **:** **Origin ~**

* * *

Not content to sit still, Kurtis made himself get up to join Morgau and Jean in the sitting room while Lara prepared food in the kitchen. He felt sluggish and tired, but couldn't bear being idle while others worked. And there was work to do.

"You really should go back to sleep." Morgau commented, noticing how exhausted he seemed just from walking to the sofa. "You won't heal your wounds without regenerative sleep."

"I'll sleep when I'm dead." he retorted stubbornly.

"Won't take long for that to happen with that attitude." she mumbled under her breath. The demon hunter ignored the snideness.

"Speaking of which... isn't it possible to heal yourself, if you take that thing off?" He asked as he pointed to her torso, where her corselet was underneath her clothing.

She shook her head, bushy hair bouncing slightly. "No... I wasn't trained in all the Lux Veritatis ways. My father didn't have access to the Grand Masters, training rooms, or anything of the sort. I was only trained in the basics; I can barely call myself an Initiate. It'll kill me too quickly for anything like that to work. I can't risk it."

Lara came out of the kitchen and handed Kurtis a plate of food as she sat next to him. Jean was sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, his head quirked slightly as if eavesdropping. Catching the look the goateed man gave her, she cleared her throat. "Jean?"

The archaeologist, comprehending the gesture from his long-time friend, stood up and excused himself to go to the kitchen so his presence wouldn't bother them. As all the pairs of eyes watched his departure, Kurtis hummed and stroked his chin hairs in thought, leaning forward with elbows on knees. They continued their conversation at a low volume. "I wonder if we get you to a Bloodline Room..."

"That may work... though, I wonder, would my bloodline throne have been removed, after what my father did?"

"He was kicked out, wasn't he?" The demon hunter asked then. "I never met him or knew of him. What did he do to get your family ostracized?"

The assassin sighed. "Well, it's kind of a long story. Back during the second world war, my father worked undercover for the Lux Veritatis as a British Intelligence agent. He was tasked with secretly wiping out Cabal strongholds throughout Europe by dispatching bomber planes under the guise of bombing Nazi activity. But one of the orders he received was incorrect, and he ended up sending an bombardment to Castle Kriegler."

"And freed Eckhardt from where he was being imprisoned." Kurtis inferred.

"Yes. And because he accidently freed Eckhardt, he was declared a traitor by the Lux Veritatis. They didn't believe him when he said the orders were doctored, they thought he must have been working for the Cabal as a double agent. So he went on the run until he could prove his innocence, which ultimately, he was never able to accomplish. He started injecting himself with this longevity serum that would prolong his life, that he once told me he found the formula for at a Cabal research base.

"Then, later I was born. My mother died in childbirth, and my father tried to raise me as a Lux Veritatis once my power awakened on its own. But since he no longer had access to any of the resources or elders, I could only reach Initiate level, and even in that I'm lacking somewhat. He's dead now, as you know. Killed by Eckhardt after he was caught faxing copies of the Obscura Engravings to someone in Paris.

"Even though he was ostrasized by the Order he never stopped fighting for the cause and working against the Cabal. Not that everything he did was noble, though. He started injecting _me_ with those longevity serums when I was fourteen years old. He had become paranoid and feared for my life. But they made me moody and I started running away and coming back after a couple weeks, sometimes even as long as a month. But during one of those periods I was captured by the Cabal, and when they found out I was Lux Veritatis, Eckhardt began experimenting on me."

Lara cautiously said, "I don't mean to be negative but, if Eckhardt put that device on you to make you dependent on him, why would he also create a way to undo it?"

With a dejected sigh Morgau cast her gaze downward. "I know you are probably right, but if I don't have hope... what's the point? Am I to believe I was born, raised in the training of the Lux Veritatis, then kidnapped and experimented on by the Cabal, only to die with having accomplished nothing? I'm only nineteen years old, I haven't lived a full life. I need to do _something._ " She looked up then, fire in her eyes as she stared the other woman down. "Even if that something is to kill. I'll make it my goal to kill every Cabal piece of shit I meet, until they are all gone or until the day I die, whichever comes first."

"That's the spirit." Kurtis said quietly, lacking enthusiasm.

The room quieted to the lull then, and Morgau brought out the Sleeper Scrolls to translate with Kurtis' help. She sat on the arm of the couch, hovering over him as she scanned the pages. Having already decoded them once, she knew which part directly referenced the location of the buried Nephilim. Lara scooted closer to take a look herself but was annoyed to find it looked like the same gibberish scribbles to her as it did the first time, though the pair of Lux Veritatis seemed to know what it said.

"Here," Morgau paused, finger finally landing on a section of the scroll. "This is the part Karel was interested in."

" _Where the fallen angels were bound for seventy generations,_

 _is a place where God's Warriors were charged their duty,_

 _I am the place where the Heavens kissed the Earth,_

 _I am the place where the holy instruments were forged,_

 _among Semjaza's children I am a sacred place of worship,_

 _and the unholy union between the sons of God and the daughters of men,_

 _shall be bound and slumber in me once more."_

Kurtis read aloud. His manner became serious as they thought, and the two Lux Veritatis conversed and murmured quietly to each other, ignoring Lara completely.

" _'Where the holy instruments were forged' -_ this is referring to the Lux Veritatis weapons, like your Chirugai, right? Do you know where they come from?" Morgau asked.

"Yeah," Kurtis confirmed. "They were made from a meteorite element they called Ferilium. So they're at the location of a meteorite crash. ' _Where the Heavens kissed the Earth.'_ "

"A meteorite?" Lara muttered to herself. _Where was there a meteorite crash in the Cappadocian valley...?_ Then she said louder, to the others: "There are no craters in Turkey. Could you be mistaken?"

He shook his head. "It happened a long time ago, and I don't think it's known to the outside world. I know where this place is, but..." he trailed off, a contemplative look on his face.

"But?"

"But it was supposed to have been reburied by the Lux Veritatis after they bound the Sleepers there, so they wouldn't be uncovered. There'd be no way to reach it without following Karel's dig, which would be suicide, or doing our own excavation -"

"-Which we've neither the time nor manpower for, not to mention dealing with the Turkish government." Lara interrupted. "Karel's getting away with this excavation because he has it disguised under that facility, and he paid off a lot of officials to not ask questions and look the other way – or so that's what the locals believe. We'll have to take our chances with infiltrating the facility again. How many men can he really have working for him?"

"Believe me, he has a lot." Morgau said.

Kurtis agreed. "Karel's the head of the Cabal now, and the Cabal has access to near limitless funds, thanks to his former occupation as their lawyer and investor. They have income from numerous sources. Besides the Agency which gets a cut from every job they hire out, they also have side projects and interests all over the globe. Though it looks like the inner circle has been reduced to just him and Gunderson, he still has the means to hire plenty of mercenaries and workers and there are still outer circle Cabal members out there. This is their 'Great Work', Karel's only goal has been to reawaken his brothers so they can rule again. He isn't gonna skimp on costs now."

"Perhaps there's some way I can get access, Karel needs me alive -"

"No, absolutely not." Kurtis interrupted harshly.

"Kurtis, be reasonable."

"I am being reasonable. I know you're good, but you're not gonna be able to snatch all three Periapt Shards from him by yourself. There's too many things that can go wrong if we separate like that."

Morgau spoke then. "Also my access card will be disabled now, so we cannot simply walk into the building like last time. No doubt he will send his men after us soon. We are safe here for now, but eventually the Agency will track us down."

"And then we'll be putting Jean in danger." Lara murmured to herself. She wouldn't let that happen again; she already had too much innocent blood on her hands.

Morgau continued. "And like Kurtis said, if we keep running Karel may give up on you and find someone else for the sacrifice."

"Right. So we mustn't wait too long." She turned to address Kurtis. "You're not in any shape to fight right now."

"Don't even say it. I'm coming with, I can still fight."

"You're being unreasonable again."

"Lara, he's right." The assassin said in a level tone. "We need him."

She looked at the two who sat next to her, thinking she was surrounded by lunatics. She knew this was their calling as members of that ancient Order of warrior monks, to battle the Nephilim and keep them from rising up again – but surely Kurtis would be of little help in his current state. Maybe they held no regard for their own lives, but she intended to make it out alive, and Kurtis' death... that wasn't something she'd accept.

Lara was used to doing things her way, to working alone and solving problems by herself. This whole adventure had been different; she'd had to rely on others, team up with a stranger, and now she was going to need help killing the final nemesis. She'd already faced Karel once so she knew from that experience she wouldn't stand a chance alone. He was simply too powerful for a single human to kill, and she doubted there was a way to trap him for all eternity like an Egyptian god.

This was another things she wasn't getting her way with. It was pointless to argue, as she couldn't prevent him from doing what he wanted. So she sat there and sighed, and hoped for the best.

"I'm sorry you won't have more time to recover."

He shrugged. "No worries."

Jean-Yves stepped out from the kitchen then. "Where is it you are trying to go? I overheard something about a meteorite crash?"

Lara internally debated with herself whether to tell him or not. Eventually she figured he might be able to help, what with him spending time in Turkey, he might know more than she at this point. Glancing first at Kurtis to get his non-verbal agreement, she told him only as much as he needed to know, revealing that Karel wanted to revive the Nephilim race from an underground buried tomb in Cappadocia. Jean went to the small bar behind the sofa and poured himself a glass of wine, offering the others one in turn, though all but Morgau refused. He turned back around and faced the group. He handed Morgau her glass, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Lara, have you ever heard of the Origin Theory?" he asked as he made his way over to this study desk in the corner.

"I don't believe I have. What is it?"

Rummaging through one of the drawers with his free hand – the other twirling his glass of red - he pulled a small notebook out and walked back over to the group. "I'm not surprised, my dear. It's not widely subscribed to in the field yet, as there's little solid evidence to back it up. I encountered the theory myself only recently from a colleague based in Hungary who sought my opinion on Egyptology. He himself is one of the few authors of this theory, and has faced ridicule for his beliefs. This colleague also worked as an adviser in Antarctica for a short period of time, for a Dr. Mark Willard – Lara, I believe you will recognize that name."

Lara quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing as she waited for Jean to continue. He handed her the notebook, opened to a page covered in a clean, cursive handwriting. She began to read the tale, and as she did, a brush painted the picture in her mind:

* * *

 _The studded rock hurtled through the black sky, its fiery trail, like a speckle of light to those who watched below. On Earth the animals squirmed and cried out, sensing the change in the air the two-legged upright ones did not. And they ran and hid, while the others did not; they came out and watched the night sky, lit up with fire as it was by the rocks hurling closer._

 _Many millennia ago the Heavens rained down a meteor shower of such magnitude the Earth was forever altered._

 _The rocks collided with the earth, creating craters, disrupting ecosystems. The humans, ever curious, went to the giant rock and hammered them open with their makeshift tools. The beautiful, smooth, aquamarine stones within were harvested, and the tribe used them for themselves. Some for jewelry, other for weapons, still others for religious icons. On the other side of the planet, a different tribe worshiped their meteor as a god, bowing before it and placing it at the center of their community. Still another tribe somewhere else continued to live their lives as normal, unaware of the great power that lay so close at hand; never touching or seeing, but soaking up its influence all the same. But over the years, the unfathomable power housed in those rocks effected the people around it._

 _The humans that over-saturated themselves with the element gave birth to children with deformities. The little girls and boys were missing fingers, legs, some were even born without a face. The tribe wept with horror when its members began to mutate, morphing into something more beast than man, unable to think or feel like a human should._

 _The tribe that resided on the other side gained powers of great benefit. They could heal themselves, they had prolonged lives, their children harnessed the powers of the elements, gained wisdom and intelligence beyond any other civilization. These tribes were dotted all around the world, creating good and bad magic, branching off and creating their own civilizations with unaffected humans who worshiped them as gods, and still others created advanced technologies and sciences._

 _Regardless of how the celestial material changed the people around it, these various groups of people scattered about the earth exposed to the elemental power held within the meteorite rocks, all passed their changes onto their children, and their childrens' children, and so on. Some of the changes were so drastic, so ingrained in their genes, that the mutated humans began to view themselves as a different species._

 _Over the millennia artifacts_ _were crafted, carved, out of the powerful_ _element_ _that was found in the meteors. Wielded by unmutated humans they gave great power, sometimes to their benefit; other times, to their demise. Daggers forged that could turn a man into a dragon, spheres of moving pieces that could teleport a person anywhere they desired,_ _circular pendants holding the power of creation, spears that could make an army invincible, stones that could turn ordinary metal into gold._ _These artifacts lay hidden deep in the world, unknown to the vast amount of the unexposed human population; but they speak of a different world, an ancient one, where the Earth was ruled by these supernatural people._

* * *

As she handed the notebook back, Jean spoke, "These meteorites were filled with a mysterious substance, an element not found on Earth. This element serves as the foundation of all myths surrounding gods, supernatural beings, and yes, even angels. It's believed prolonged exposure causes mutations – or advanced evolution, as my colleague would say – in the humans around it. This theory would hold that Nephilim are really only a pre-historic race of evolved humans, who sprouted wings and gained immortality amongst other powers. But since our ancestors were incapable of explaining them via rational means, they created the myth of angels breeding with humans, due to the Nephilim's ethereal appearance.

 _"_ This same theory states that this is the basis for _all_ unexplained ancient phenomenon. The Egyptian Gods, the Atlanteans, and so on – all stem from exposure to these artifacts containing this element. You yourself have seen some of these supposed artifacts first hand. Dr. Willard found some originals in Antarctica."

Lara's eyes widened at this. "If that's the case, how do you explain the existence of creatures like demons, dinosaurs – which are supposed to be extinct – or magic like alchemy and ancient curses?"

"Ah, see, this is where my colleague lost me as well. He explained this by saying they are all creations of the evolved people – 'Origin Beings' as he called them. That they had religions and sciences that us normal humans simply do not have, which allowed them to obtain immortality, to combine the genomes of humans and animals together and create monsters, or to prolong the survival of species that would otherwise have died. They have means that would seem supernatural to us, but are really only possible through the power of this celestial element."

"But Dr. Willard's experiments all but proved direct exposure results in extreme and undesired mutations. Certainly nothing I encountered in Antarctica resembled a Nephilim or an Egyptian God."

"Oui, this is true. This is the part of the theory that states each location where a meteorite fell resulted in different outcomes due to the nature of the environment, the concentration of exposure, and so on. My colleague also believes certain humans are more amenable to the artifacts. Certain tribes, over a period of time, gained powers that 'knitted' to their DNA, and that they then passed down through their offspring. One of these tribes may have become the Nephilim, another the Atlanteans, and another, perhaps, a tribe that could heal itself." he said, gesturing towards Kurtis.

Kurtis raised his eyebrows. "My Chirugai was crafted from Ferilium, and so were the Periapt Shards. The Order's always said it was a really strong psychic element that was found in a meteorite."

Lara looked to him and Morgau, concerned. _No matter_ , she thought, _I'll address that later._ "But how is this going to help us kill Karel? Half-angel breed or just a mutant, it doesn't matter – he's still in the advantage and we can't let him revive the Sleepers."

Jean took a sip of wine and returned the notebook to his desk. "Trust that I did not tell you all of that for nothing. Indeed, I only told you so I could tell you this: Recently the remains of what might have once been an underground city was discovered in Nevşehir. In fact, it is not far from the Fairy Chimneys, which caused the UNESCO World Heritage Convention to demand the government halt further digging until they can determine if it will cause damage to the surrounding landmarks placed under their conservation protection. This excavation had unearthed fragments of meteorite rock, causing scientists to speculate that it contains the site of a prehistoric meteorite crash. But since the dig has been temporarily put on hold, they can't confirm it yet. This may be the location of your sleeping Nephilim, and if this Origin Theory is true, this site might have been seen as sacred, particularly by the Nephilim."

"The Infada tribe and the Polynesians also worshiped the bearers of their sacred stones. It's not impossible other groups would have reacted similarly. It all connects..." Lara murmured to herself. "At any rate, it's our best option. Jean," she addressed him, "Can you get us into that excavation?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear. However I can get you the maps of the dig. One of the head Professors of Archeology here was involved with the excavation, which is how I came to learn of it. He's kept the plans on his computer at the university. I can print copies tomorrow. The entrances they used should be noted, but they have likely been sealed to keep the curious onlooker out."

"Sealed how? Are light explosives in order?" Lara asked.

"Nothing of that magnitude, I imagine. The site of the excavation is in the middle of the city. Perhaps a pair of bolt cutters will do. But Lara, please be careful. This site may be invaluable to the field."

"I always am."

* * *

That night Kurtis suffered from fever and nightmares, waking several times. Each time it roused Lara who slept on the floor by him, the bed being too small for the both of them to lay on it comfortably. And though she waited quietly and with far more patience than normal for her, he never told her what the dreams were about, nor talked at any length about what Karel did to him. It wasn't hard to imagine, however.

The wounds that marred the entirety of his body spoke of torture: Severe burn marks, holes pierced in his flesh, bruises and cuts and stitches – like he was some kind of medical experiment. Lara had never felt so grateful that Luther Rouzic was _only_ skilled in the preservation of _dead_ bodies. If he had more experience, no doubt he would have inflicted more monstrocities onto him. And after he died, that's likely what would have become of Kurtis: To take the the place next to Konstantin in his chamber of oddities, frozen forever in the state of his death.

Indeed, Lara couldn't describe the extent of her relief when she finally got Kurtis back. But ever since recovering him it was obvious he was not quite the same. But she had no idea how to proceed. What _were_ they? Were they simply temporary partners, friends, something _more_? The demon hunter was the same indecipherable mystery as ever, so Lara only knew her own feelings on the matter. And they told her she wouldn't be happy with simply being partners or friends. She wanted more.

But this was neither the time nor the place for such discussions. They would soon go into the lion's den and she told herself, over and over, they couldn't afford any distractions. Whatever may come after, well, that was a different story...

* * *

The next day Jean-Yves returned from his work with the maps of the suspended excavation in hand. The group gathered around the dining table to go over it.

Jean pointed to a small X marked in blue ink on the map. "This was the entrance. As you can see, it is not exactly out of sight of where most tourists go, as it was discovered when the Turkish Housing Development Administration tore down several buildings. I would not recommend you try to get in during daylight hours, but once in you should be alone."

"Of course. So we'll wait until after nightfall."

Morgau spoke. "I have bolt cutters in my jeep. I also have C4, if it is needed."

Kurtis looked at her dubiously. " _Why_ do you have C4 in your jeep?"

She shrugged. "From before, given to me by Gunderson. In case I needed to blast my way through the tomb."

Jean gasped, clearly distraught over the idea that someone would so carelessly destroy an archeological and historical site.

But she continued on, not noticing this. "See here," she pulled out the sketches she had drawn yesterday, of the worker's blueprints she had glimpsed before, and laid them next to the professor's maps of the dig. She tapped a tunnel outlined on the map, "this intersects with the Cabal's dig, I'm sure of it. The map I saw did not have the towns labeled, but I recognize these tunnels here. I think this is where their passageways connect with these ones. If we can make it there, we should be able to follow their trail."

"How sure are you of this?" Kurtis asked. Lara suspected he still didn't trust her completely, but she didn't blame him. If Morgau could sense this as well, she didn't say anything. After how viciously that girl had attacked him, she was astonished how easily it seemed for him to accept her help.

"I'm pretty sure." The girl answered. "I also remember this lake had an X marked through it. Here, the Damsa Reservoir." She pointed to a small body of water on the map not too far from the section of tunnel she showed them a moment ago.

"That's probably it, under the lake. The meteorite crash site is near there somewhere, too. It's supposed to neighbor this monastery complex."

"It makes sense." Lara said. "If the Nephilim are buried under a lake, especially a major water supply, it's not as though Karel can drain it and dig them up directly without the authorities getting involved. He'd have to take the roundabout approach by reaching it from another location."

"With his facility serving as a cover for the real operations." Morgau finished.

"And with him connecting to tunnels that already exist so there's less time and resources spent digging." Lara said.

Kurtis nodded then, seemingly convinced. "We'll leave tonight. It's a long ways from this entrance to the lake, we should pack supplies."

Lara turned to Jean-Yves. "Is there anywhere you could stay for the night? I don't think we were followed, but I don't want to risk your safety again." She remembered how guilty she felt when Von Croy kidnapped him to get to her. She wouldn't jeopardize her friend's life like that again.

"Oui, I will ask my colleague from the university. I will make up something about fumigating for rats. They have been a problem in this apartment block before."

With a plan put in place, Kurtis returned to bed for more sleep and Lara and Morgau began to pack their supplies and prep. A feeling of dread settled in the pits of their stomachs - not knowing whether they would succeed, or if come tomorrow the earth would find itself in the beginnings of a new world order.

* * *

 **A/N:** _The mention of seventy generations in the riddle is a reference from the Book of Enoch, where God commands the angel Michael to bind Semjaza and the other 199 fallen angels "in the valleys of the earth". This is likely talking about hell, but I decided to have these valleys in a literal place - the Cappadocia valleys._

 _The history of Mathais Vasiley - Morgau's father - is entirely from Murti Schofields notes. I thought it important to include to explain why no one knew about Morgau and why she hadn't normal LV training._

 _And there *have* been the remains of an underground city discovered in Nevsehir, but only more recently (2015? IIRC). So in this fic they discover it a little early, since this takes place in early 2003. Something tells me when they uncover everything in real life, there won't be sleeping Nephilim or a meteorite crash site in the tunnels, though ;)_

 _"Dream Is Collapsing" by Hans Zimmer from the Inception soundtrack is what I listened to to write the Origin Theory scene._

 _Also because I can't reply directly to y'all, I'd like to thank all my guest reviewers here: Thank you, Nemesis, Soleen, and Kimpoedel! I cherish every one :)_

 _~ Clairesail_


	15. Underground City

**~ 14 : Underground City ~**

* * *

Lara, Kurtis, and Morgau reached the excavation site a little before midnight. At that time of night, the streets were mostly empty and they would be free to infiltrate and do what they needed. They arrived at the boarded up entrance; it was, as Jean-Yves had said, not exactly in a discreet location.

It was on the outskirts of Nevşehir, surrounded by the city and set deep into the ground, and along the perimeter a chain-link fence had been erected. Signs in Turkish warning of danger and trespassing were attached around the fence and the gate. The gate itself was bound shut tightly with a heavy chain and a large combination lock. They had parked Morgau's jeep a couple blocks away and walked, taking care to stay in the shadows and avoid the spotlights shining on the site.

Kurtis and Lara looked around to make sure the coast was clear. With no sign of others nearby, Morgau began working on cutting a hole in the fence with bolt cutters. Once a hole big enough for Kurtis to fit through was opened, the trio quickly dropped down into the outer parts. Morgau going first, using her powers to safely drop the distance, then Kurtis doing the same, and then he projected his power at Lara so she could land without injury. Once they were all in the pit, they climbed up the ruins and went through the main entrance into the tunnels.

They came upon a deep ventilation well whose bottom was hidden by the darkness of the cavern. Lighting a flare, Lara tossed it into the shaft to see where the bottom lay, but the small light continued down and down until they couldn't see it anymore. Kurtis removed a flashlight from his belt pack and turned it on to examine the shaft. With the constant light shining along the rock wall, they could just make out the shadows of small air shafts. At their feet were several metal prongs jutting out of the wall, serving as a makeshift ladder for descending to one of the air shafts.

The three of them took turns climbing down to the first tunnel they came upon – in fact, the only one that had had a ladder installed to reach it. This tunnel was cramped and the walls rock, formed from the same material that made the Fairy Chimneys – deposits of volcanic ash, lava, and basalt. This 'rock' was very soft and easily carved, which explained the plethora of cave hotels, cave churches, and other tourist spots created out of the landscape. In fact this was not the first underground city to be discovered in the region, only the most recent and yet unexplored.

As they trekked through the tunnel it gradually widened in certain parts and jutted out into individual rooms. There were areas that looked to have been living quarters, supply rooms, shops. The canceled excavation had unearthed an entire underground city, but the archeologists were prevented from further research. It seemed Cappadocia had _too much_ history.

Along the main tunnel branched off several smaller, narrower tunnels, each about the width of the average above-ground alleyway. The main tunnel was similar in width to the main street in a town, and the farther in they went the higher the ceiling seemed to reach. Lara noted that they were on a gradual downward slope, going deeper and deeper underground the farther they went. After traversing what must have been several miles they stopped for a short break.

"We need to pull out the map." Lara said. "Need to get a gauge on how far we've come so we don't miss the turn."

"I don't need a map." Kurtis said plainly.

Lara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Well there's no harm in checking, is there?"

Morgau snickered quietly to herself.

Lara pulled the map from her backpack and unfolded it, searching out how much longer they'd have to trek. "We're roughly halfway to the exit we need to take, if my estimate is correct."

"Good thing I wore my hiking boots." Morgau said as she stretched.

They set off again.

As they got nearer the side tunnel they needed to take, it became more obvious the main tunnel had been used recently. There were shoe prints in the dust on the ground and the most obvious sign: tall floodlights set up, lighting the way. They put away their flashlights and Kurtis made a motion to keep quiet.

"No talking unless necessary," he whispered. "Don't want to give any of Karel's workers the heads up." The two women nodded.

When they neared the off-shoot they needed to take – plainly tagged by the light set up at its entryway – Lara paused.

"Isn't it odd that we haven't seen any of the workers yet?"

Kurtis gave her a look. "Not unless they've all been dismissed, which means..."

"He's done." Morgau finished his sentence. All three pairs of eyes made contact with each other, dread setting in deep into the pits of their stomachs.

Lara frowned. Something seemed wrong. She got the sense they had been led here on purpose, and swept the perimeter with her gaze, searching out hidden enemies in the shadows. She took several steps back from the others, feeling paranoid, when suddenly, the ground beneath her began to tremble.

"Lara?" Morgau called, voice laced with concern. The other two looked around for the source of the tremors, but Lara, who was an expert in spelunking, already knew what was happening. She knew she needed to _move,_ and _now_ , but her legs wouldn't budge.

"Let's go!" Kurtis shouted, and he grabbed Morgau's arm and the pair began to sprint off, but he skidded to a stop when he saw Lara had remained stock-still. " _Lara!"_

She felt the hot Egyptian sun on her skin, felt the coarse, sandy wind kiss her face, though she knew in reality she was actually a little cold and there was no wind at all where she was. Kurtis' voice snapped her back to reality, and she looked up from her feet to see him reaching out to her. She went to move but the earth beneath her feet disappeared, sinking down, and she slid.

Letting out a scream, Lara crashed down the slope, her vision receiving nothing but darkness and ears registering only the sound of the air rushing past. She seemed to slide an eternity on that downward slope, until she felt the dirt and ground beneath her give way to air. She fell a beat and collided feet-first with the earth with a thud. Her knees jolted and she cried out, falling against knees and elbows. The breath was knocked from her, and she lay there winded.

* * *

Kurtis peered as close as he dared over the newly created hole in the ground, and called once more: "Lara!" When still nothing answered back, he sat back and slammed his fist against the ground, cursing.

"You need to be quiet." Morgau warned, her eyes never ceasing to scan the area with her gun at the ready. "You'll definitely attract the mercs attention _now._ "

"Shut up." He snapped. Logically, he knew Lara could more than take care of herself; she was extremely competent. But after what Karel did to him, being separated from her again was painful for him in more than one way. Just her presence alone gave him a strength he didn't know he had before meeting her. And the situation left him at a point of indecision: to stay put and hope she found her way back, to follow her down the hole, or to move on and hope they meet up again. He knew which option she'd pick, and so he decided that's what he'd do. They'd keep going without her.

He stood and joined Morgau in the smaller tunnel, and the two started to walk again, following the trail Karel's workers had already made way. It seemed evident now Morgau's intel was correct, which gave him hope they were on the correct path – if they continued on, they'd reach the ritual room where the Sleepers were. He just hoped that they would reunite before confronting Karel, because if not... He banished the thought. Lara would be fine, he'd get to her before that soulless bastard could so much as lay a finger on her.

As they traveled on, they came across a rather flat section of wall decorated with a crude cave painting. Parts of the painting were missing, possibly worn off from old age, but the parts that were visible confirmed the theories. It showed a large circle falling from the sky and colliding with the earth, and from the circle – the meteorite – arose winged angels.

Morgau looked at the cave painting with sadness in her eyes. "They must have thought the angels came down from Heaven on the meteorite. Do you think it's true?" she asked, addressing Kurtis. "Do you think we're just freaks of nature?" her voice was small and weak, as if she wasn't a creature capable of killing the strongest of men with her bare hands. In that moment, it was hard to see her as anything but a troubled nineteen-year-old girl.

Kurtis looked at the painting then, unable to meet her gaze anymore. "I don't know." he answered plainly.

She continued to search his face, silently asking him to look at her. "Do you think I'm a freak?" The question hung thick in the air.

He spoke after a moment. "I think you got a lot of problems that killing Karel isn't going to fix anymore than Eckhardt dying did."

"Are you speaking of me, or of yourself?" she asked.

He looked at her again then, eyes squinted in confusion. "What is it you're trying to say?"

"Nothing, I only..." her voice quieted, then she seemed to regain her confidence. "Are you going to continue the Order? Or will you let it die with us?"

Kurtis leaned back against the cave wall, patting his pockets for his cigarettes, but then gave up when he realized it wasn't the best idea to smoke in such an enclosed space. "Why do you want to know, huh? I mean, you were trying to kill me a few days ago."

"You know I had no choice..."

"Why don't _you_ carry it on?"

"I can't have children. I'm all messed up in that department."

"Sucks, I guess?" he said lightly. This wasn't a topic of conversation Kurtis was comfortable with.

"After what my father, what _Eckhardt-"_ she spat the name, "-did to me... I can never have a normal life. I guess I never will. Every action of mine has been orchestrated by someone else since my conception. I've never had a say in anything. Even in this, I'm only a weapon for you to use. It's true, isn't it?" She searched his eyes, looking for some semblance of understanding there, but saw only coldness. She supposed it was too much to ask for him to care about her, after what she did to him, but she had never really had the opportunity to talk to another of her kind besides her father. Morgau found herself _wanting_ to be understood by him. And as she watched him shrug his shoulders indifferently and look away – the impassive glance never leaving him – she realized this was an impossible request.

"I won't lie, you switching sides has been helpful... Look, what is it you want me to say? You could have left me in Karel's hands to die if you wanted. Do you want me to thank you or something?" he said gratingly.

"No... of course not. And... even if I had never been deprogrammed, I don't think I could have done that. I can kill indiscriminately and without remorse, but I can't bear _that._ " She met his gaze, saw his confused expression. "You don't remember everything he did to you. Or you try not to. Be grateful for that blessing. He's evil, but he's not as cruel as Eckhardt. I remember every single thing Eckhardt did to me, and he made sure that I would."

Kurtis studied her a little more. Her face was sad, but not with pity; rather with understanding. She knew exactly the pain he had been put through, all of it. Not just the torture, but the LV training as well, the loneliness that comes from always having to hide, the pain of losing a parent for a cause you're not even sure you believe in... She was the only other person left in the entire world who truly understood, that contradicting feeling, that conflicting faith; the desire to both gain the approval of the Order and to spit in its face. To embrace the duty and the faith with a bitter, resigned weariness; wanting to never see it again but constantly being affronted by it.

Even at that very moment, when the kinder side of him wished to comfort her somehow, he also struggled with the desire to be rid of her, for she reminded him too much of the legacy he despised.

"So are you going to continue the bloodline?" Morgau asked, reminding him that he never answered. "What about Lara?"

"What about her?"

She gave him a look, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I think you know..."

 _Is she asking...?_

Suddenly they heard a cough in the distance. Drawing their weapons – Kurtis his Boran X and Morgau her FAMAS – they advanced slowly, rounded a curve in the tunnel and came upon a man. He was reclining against the wall of the cavern, clutching his stomach. His clothes, which identified him as a construction worker, were splattered in blood. When he saw the two Lux Veritatis his eyes bulged and he quickly raised his other hand.

"Don't shoot!" he said, blood dribbling from his mouth. He coughed again and more blood came with it.

Kurtis holstered his gun and showed the man his empty hands, approaching slowly. "We won't. What's happened?"

The man grimaced as if he was going to cry, and with a trembling hand, reached for Kurtis. He stopped before the man, crouching just out of reach, and studied the wounds. There were chunks of flesh ripped from him, all over his legs and arms. He guessed from the way the worker held his torso that there was a particularly nasty one on the midsection.

"H-help me..." he cried, dropping the outstretched arm to his side from weakness. "There... were too many... they didn't k-kill them all..."

"Kill what?" Kurtis asked. But the man was a blubbering mess, snot and blood running down his face; he wasn't listening. "Hey, answer me. What happened to you?"

The man was silent then, the light having left his eyes. He had bled to death, having suffered terrible wounds all over his body. Kurtis stood and looked to Morgau, who had been watching the other side of the tunnel. They moved on then.

They soon came across more victims, these ones already dead. There were more workers and some dressed in the garb the Agency mercenaries wore. They had abandoned rifles by their corpses and their flesh picked over. Most were missing their eyes, some their lips, and all had chunks of skin and meat bitten out of their legs and stomachs. Something was not right here.

"What did this?" Morgau finally asked, twitching with nervousness. Getting eaten alive like that would _hurt._

He didn't answer right away. He had his suspicions from the evidence he saw around him, but he was in no shape to be fighting something like that. He was already tired simply from traversing the passageways, and he had yet to even pull the trigger on his gun once.

As he opened his mouth to answer he paused, and his mouth was left hanging open as he squinted at something behind her. There was something moving in the shadows on the wall. Morgau followed his gaze and shone her flashlight that way, brightening the tunnel behind them where the mangled bodies lay. What she saw made her gasp.

The largest spider they'd ever seen huddled on the wall, freezing its movements like a deer in the headlights when they illuminated it. It was the size of a frisbee, with large vertical fang-like jaws, and it was covered in thin hair.

"It's just a camel spider." Morgau breathed quietly. "A _big_ camel spider..."

"That's no ordinary spider." Kurtis whispered back.

Then the spider emitted a noise like a hiss, and before their eyes a swarm of hundreds of arachnids of the same size crawled from the tunnel, clustering around the one that hissed, covering every inch of exposed rock floor to ceiling. Their legs susurrated against the surfaces of the passageway.

Not taking his eyes from the bugs, Kurtis whispered to his partner. "Run. Now."

They took off in the opposite direction and as they did so the cluster of spiders followed after them, hot on their heels, nipping at their boots. Morgau shot wildly behind her as she ran and spurts of bluish-green guts exploded from the group, but there were simply too many to shoot all of them.

Abruptly Kurtis turned down a narrower passageway and followed it until it branched out into a storage room. It was a dead end.

"There's no way out!" Morgau shouted, then turned and continued shooting. She climbed up onto a rock cropping to gain distance from the swarming creatures. Kurtis unleashed his Chirugai and his Boran X, shooting at the same time his disc slashed some of the spiders in half. As the remaining ones drew closer Morgau took out her knife and stabbed them. She tried to fling them off as they crawled up her legs, but they outnumbered her and started to bite through her pants, their large fangs tearing chunks of flesh off her legs. She screamed and squirmed as she fought them off, and extended her free hand out and started projecting a barrier to keep them off.

Kurtis came up with an idea. He retrieved his pocket lighter and flicked it on, and as he held it out in front of him in the direction of the spiders, he reached his other hand toward the small flame. The psychic energy acted like an accelerant and the fire flared out like a flamethrower, catching the arachnids closest to him on fire, which then spread quickly from bug to bug as Kurtis directed it with his hand. Soon most of the spiders were writhing and curling up, burnt to a crisp. Morgau's barrier failed then, unable to keep the physical beings away for so long. They continued their assault and she resumed stabbing them until the demon hunter came over and helped wipe the rest of them away. Panting, exhausted, and now the air warm and stifling from the flames, they caught their breath and surveyed the damage. Kurtis only had a couple of minor bites on his leg; it was Morgau who had been mauled, but before she could even tend to the wounds they had already closed and healed thanks to her ultra fast healing. The other, however, was aching all over. The women had been right; it was too soon for him to be back in action.

After minding his injuries, Kurtis stood and looked to Morgau. Just then they heard more rustling noises, louder and more pronounced than before. They grew closer, and the two warriors drew their weapons and aimed them at the mouth of the burrow. Dread began to build in the woman's depths, but as she glanced at the man she saw grim resolve in his expression, and something told her this wasn't something out of the ordinary for him.

The whispering noises crescendoed, then abruptly stopped. The only thing that could be heard was their breathing, soft pants that seemed like shouts in their ears. Sweat trickled down Morgau's forehead and she blinked to keep it out of her eyes.

Out jumped the cause of the noise into the burrow: A camel spider the size of a Great Dane dog. Its enormous pedipalps reached for Morgau, but being very nimble she hopped out of the way and began firing at it without pause. Kurtis unleashed his Chirugai at it, slicing the two searching appendages clean off and ejecting greenish blood from it.

"Aim for the eyes!" he shouted as he backed up. The unearthly creature advanced, unperturbed by the bullets sinking into its hairy torso or spindly legs. It suddenly lunged towards the girl and caught her with its huge jaws and a scream tore the air. Kurtis acted fast, jumping onto the arachnid's back with Chirugai in hand. He began stabbing its eyes and mouth area until it let its prey go. It then turned its attention to him, and with a jerk of its rear quarters, sent its attacker flying across the room. Kurtis slammed against the wall and fell to the ground, knocking the air from his lungs.

Relying on his senses and without even opening his eyes, he tumbled out of the way just as the remains of its pedipalps grabbed for him. In one smooth motion he rolled to his feet, simultaneously projecting the blades from his disc out, and threw the weapon. It flawlessly severed the monster's body in two, and the decapitated cephalothorax splattered on the ground upon impact. With a strange low hiss the arachnid's remaining body toppled over and its legs curled in itself.

Kurtis lit the remains on fire with his lighter and the two left the storage room, returning to the main passageway they'd been in previously before the attack. They trekked some more. The girl stopped and looked at him.

"Thank you."

"Just doing my job."

Just then a bang was heard echoing in the tunnel, followed by muffled cursing. Drawing their weapons once again, Kurtis and Morgau crept silently onward, and nearly stumbled over an Agency mercenary. Without pausing to ask for directions, Morgau quickly unsheathed her dagger and stabbed the guy in the throat before he could make a peep. They carried on several more steps, thinking the coast was clear, until they heard more foot steps from behind; these ones hurried and belonging to several men.

They hid themselves in small niches dug into the walls serving as lantern posts, flattening themselves against the walls as much as possible.

As soon as the first guard passed by and the second one came into view, the two Lux Veritatis opened fire, and the tunnels exploded into chaos once more.


	16. Nephilim

**~ 15 : Nephilim ~**

* * *

Some time later – a minute later, or several, she didn't know – Lara opened her eyes. Wincing, she stood and brushed the dirt from her sleeves and scanned herself for injuries. Outside of the bruises that would show up on her elbows and knees, she was all clear. She looked up into the void she fell from and called out to Kurtis but heard no sounds. She didn't think she'd had fallen that far, but it was utterly silent in the cavern when she should have been able to hear the others above. As she reached into her backpack to retrieve her flashlight, she looked up and noticed where she was for the first time.

In front of her stood a large, dome-shaped cavern. It was enormous, like an expansive desert plain, and a few steps in front of her the ground dipped. For as far as she could see, the ground sunk and curved into a sort of bowl, the sides of which were very steep and deep. She could see this because the entire room was dimly lit in a soft, blueish green light. In the center of this enormous crater within the cavern were four huge pillars of stone, and they sat at four corners to create a square. In the middle of this square stood a statue.

As she neared the edge of the bluff, she peered over, noticing a set of steps erected from the ledge down to the cavity. She descended them and drew near the statue. Up close she could see the details: the pillars were etched in ancient hieroglyphs with which Lara wasn't familiar; the statue in the middle was that of an androgynous winged creature, painted white as snow, with the same strange scrawl covering its face. It stood proudly with its hands at its side and palms facing outward, as if it were a deity receiving worship. Its head tilted upward to Heaven, and enormous feathered wings sprouted out its back. _Nephilim._

Upon closer inspection, the source of the strange turquoise hue came from tiny flakes of a luminescent material that surrounded the statue, embedded in both the floor and the pillars. Though the flakes were so small, the light they emitted was so bright it illuminated the entire cavern, penetrating the darkness in a way fire or flashlight never could. On all sides were small rectangular gold-woven rugs. They were frayed and aged, but the imagery that came to Lara's mind was that of the faithful Muslim, kneeling on his prayer rug. The inhabitants of this underground city had bowed to this statue of a Nephilim in worship. This was the crater, the very one created by the meteorite that landed millennia ago.

Lara looked around the room in awe, trying to piece together the story this room held. The Nephilim must have seemed like something unearthly to ancient people who didn't have any knowledge of science. The first ones to be born or 'mutated' must have been a terrifying sight to those unsuspecting mothers. But the society, not having anyway to explain it, told themselves they had been bred from angels. They had powers and longevity that normal humans didn't; they were treated like gods. If the Origin Theory had any truth to it, then how much of the Lux Veritatis' and even the Cabal's lives had been based on a lie? _No_ , Lara corrected herself, _not a lie; just ignorance_.

Lara bent down and retrieved one of the flecks of glowing rock with her utility knife. It was translucent, but hard and shiny like a gemstone. It reminded her of the artifacts from Antarctica she was tasked with recovering years ago; but these seemed to glow, seemed to _thrum_ with some unknown energy, whereas the Antarctica artifacts appeared merely as colorful stones. She dropped it then, also recalling how some of the humans reacted to close contact with those meteorite rocks. She did _not_ want to be multi-appendaged, or suddenly overcome with the desire to stab herself in the chest with it.

But this did tell her one thing: that the Origin Theory might hold its weight. And if there were any truth to it, that meant Karel was still human. A super human, perhaps, but still human – _not_ _invincible_. She shivered and rubbed her arms, looking at that haughty winged being, eyes closed as it soaked up the adoration of its lesser subjects. It was a perfect representation of Karel if she'd ever seen one. Its lack of humanity was chilling.

It was cold in the cavern. Beautiful, with the green light coloring the rocks and stones, but very cold; as if all warmth of human life was being drained from her. There was definitely something supernatural about this place.

There was no inscription on the statue, but a glimmer caught her eye. In the palm of one of it's hands, was a piece of the glowing matter. However, it was carved into a circle and it was lined along the edge with gold. Using the utility knife once more, she stuck the tip underneath and pried the object loose. Studying it in her hands, she flipped it over and took note that the backside was encased in gold as well, and engraved on it was a mirror image of the glyph on the angel's palms. It was a circle with two smaller circles within, and two lines intersecting near the top, similar to an upside-down V. It was the same symbol Karel had engraved on his own palm.

She put the trinket in her backpack. She continued on until reaching the other side of the crater, where another staircase was, and climbed it. Now on the other side of the cavern, she could see the way out. Carved into the soft rock were niches going up the wall, just the right size for hand and foot holds.

As she climbed the wall, the light from the luminescent flakes grew dimmer, and she soon found herself in the darkness again. She was climbing up a narrow shaft slowly, using her other senses to seek out where the niches were as it was too dark to see them anymore. When she finally reached the ledge, her hands ached and she noticed her limbs shook violently. She collapsed on the floor, panting and gripping the edge tightly as if to keep herself from rolling off. The adrenaline from climbing in complete darkness and utter silence rushed through her like a jolt of electricity. She didn't know whether it was so strong because she _liked_ it or because it _terrified_ her; terrified her because ir reminded her of her traumatic experience in Egypt.

With her heart rate returning to a normal pace, she stood and flicked her flashlight on. She was in a narrow tunnel again that resembled how the rest of the underground city looked. The floor was lined with melted stumps of wax. She followed their trail until reaching a room where the candles surrounded a pedestal. On top of this pedestal rested a chunk of rock, shiny grey and marked with grooves and dimples all over. In some of these dimples were tiny flecks of the glowing green-blue substance.

They had kept a fragment of the meteorite. The ordinary people worshiped the Nephilim, but the Nephilim worshiped the rock, the source of their 'evolution'.

Was Karel correct then, when he once said the Nephilim were only trying to survive? Did the very fact that they existed mean they deserved to die? _Of course not,_ Lara countered to herself, _but when your plans for survival include enslaving the rest of humanity because you deem them inferior... that's when I cannot allow you to live._

She walked around the fragment – giving it a wide berth in respect to its power – and exited out the other side. She traversed the passageway for a little more, then came upon an iron door. On the wall by the door was a small alcove and a niche within marked by the Nephilim symbol. She placed the trinket in the hole and the door lifted up, and when she walked through, the door shut again.

And she found herself in _the_ ritual room.

* * *

Karel hovered above the ground with a look of expectant joy on his face – or whatever the Nephilim equivalent of joy was. His human façade had mostly been dropped: his skin was pale as snow and covered in greyish markings, and a strange green aura encircled him. He extended his arms out towards her as if reaching for a hug, and though he was far away, Lara instinctively stepped back in disgust. When she did, someone grabbed her arms tightly and jerked them together painfully. She looked back and was greeted by a pair of broad shoulders. A heavy-browed stern expression stared back at her in contempt: _Gunderson._

"So glad you could finally join us." Karel said pleasantly, in his refined, elegant lilt. "My kin have been waiting patiently for centuries. But when we wake them tonight they will be even stronger than me. Then nothing will stop the rebirth of my glorious race and I, the Golden Lion, will usher in a new world order. Dragons will walk across the plains of China with their loyal guardians in tow, Atlanteans will rule over the weak, demons will destroy the meek, and the gods of Egypt will send their plagues... but they will all kneel to _me._ You see, Lara, everything you've managed to fight against so far in your puny life, is _nothing_ compared to me."

"I wouldn't bet on it. I've fought a god before, and I won. You're only half angel."

"And with your strong spirit inhabiting my brothers and sisters, what could a mere god possibly do to them?"

Lara pursed her lips. She had no comeback to _that._ She settled instead for glaring. Gunderson removed her backpack and hip holsters, haphazardly tossing them aside on the floor. She was then pushed forward, but he yanked on her arms to keep her from falling down and dragged her over to Karel.

The ritual room was a huge dome with arches around it supported by intricately carved columns. On one side of the room, behind each arch was a door, including the one she came in from. Karel floated above a stone slab serving as an altar, and nestled on either side were two large sarcophagi, covered in faded paint depicting angels and human women in various stages of intercourse. Lara felt queasy looking at them.

When she was within arms reach, Karel slowly descended to the floor and took hold of her by the throat. Though he held her submissively, his grip was gentle. Gunderson let go of her arms then, but as she went to move them she quickly realized all the tugging and movement she felt back there had been him binding her wrists with rope. As the bulking subordinate retreated to stand under an arch, the Nephilim locked eyes with her, trapping her in his cool gaze. Though she wanted to, she couldn't seem to look away. What was wrong with her, she wondered, that it seemed she had so little control over her actions?

"Yes," he seemed to murmur to himself. "You will do nicely."

Repulsed, Lara swung her leg up and kneed him squarely in the crotch. It didn't have the intended effect, however, as he neither collapsed in pain nor visibly reacted in anyway. He stood there, not moving an inch, except for his arm which he used to lift Lara by the neck and fling her across the room. Several feet away she slammed onto the bedrock and rolled, scraping her exposed skin against the rough ground. Before she could even begin to get up, Karel appeared above her, and grabbing her by her braid, hauled her to her feet again.

"Behave now, _human_." He spat the word like an insult. "You had your chance – no, _chances_ , to earn a better life for yourself, but you rejected it. Why is it that you humans never do what is in your own best interest? You could have had others bow at your feet in worship."

Reeling from being jerked about, Lara retorted through clenched teeth, "Guess I've never really gone in for that."

"And now you will die without intention. I will perform the ritual so that your spirit is imparted but your soul will die along with the flesh. You've chosen not to be the Queen of Angels, this is your consequence."

"Sounds preferable, if I'm being honest."

Karel slapped her, inflaming the left side of her face. She tasted iron and felt blood trickle from the corner of her mouth.

Something peculiar, something resembling regret, flashed in the Nephilim's eyes. His thumb, cool and soothing against her hot cheek, gently swiped the trail of blood away as he looked down at her lamentably.

He whispered, "It's a shame. For what makes you so perfect for this, is the same that causes you to rebel against it." His knuckles softly stroked down the cheek he'd slapped. Her mind dizzied. "Maybe I'll give you one more chance. Once you're like me... you'll see."

Releasing her hair, Karel stepped back and approached the two sarcophagi. Situated between them he began to remove his outer jacket and shirt. As he revealed his flesh, more of the strange swirly markings that covered his face started to appear on his torso and arms, covering every inch of exposed skin.

He bent his head to the heavens and closed his eyes, and before Lara, Gunderson, and the Nephilim Sleepers, two bones sprouted out of his shoulder blades. They slid out with a sickening squelching sound, and as they grew longer, a thin layer of skin formed over them out of thin air. When the bones were about three feet in length they suddenly bent, moving downward and continuing to grow. Large lush white feathers began to pop out of the dermis and by the time they stopped, Karel had two enormous feathered wings at his back. The lowest feathers were so long that they skimmed the floor, and Karel's hair turned from blonde to snow white and grew down to his shoulders. His face became somewhat more gaunt and sallow, and his eyes turned black as the night.

When he was finally through his transformation, he turned back to Lara, a solemn expression painting his angelic visage. He sighed in release, and a shiver rippled through his body.

"I had worn that human disguise for so long... now that my kind will soon rejoin me, I can finally be free." He extended a hand towards her. "Come."

Lara, seemingly against her own volition, walked over to join him on the altar, while disgust and fascination roiled chaotically in her gut. Resting a palm gently atop her head, Karel lowered her to the ground, back against the cold stone slab laid between the tombs. Her eyes glued to his, the deep abyss in them penetrating her, violating her mind...

He reached for a knife attached to his belt, and that's when Lara noticed it: the Periapt Shards! Two of them were there, hooked to his belt, previously hidden by his jacket. She looked up and saw the tip of the third one raised above her head as Karel began chanting in a strange language, its lilt melodious and enthralling.

Abruptly, the trance was interrupted and Lara attempted to rise. Karel shoved his free hand against her chest and it glowed green, a strange and painful energy pressing into her and preventing her from getting up. Her joints locked up and she was unable to move.

 _Great_ , she thought bitterly, _I'll still die in a tomb and as the sacrificial lamb to resurrect the Nephilim race. It would have been better had I just died in Egypt!_ Despite herself, she felt tears well in her eyes but she blinked them back before they could spill over. She had never felt so helpless in her life. _Enough of this_ , she thought. She might die here but she wouldn't give in to fear; she wasn't going to let Karel have the satisfaction. She'd die with her dignity intact.

Lara squeezed her eyes shut, preparing to accept her fate. She willed herself to calm her frantic heart beat. Moments of her life sprung forth in her mind, rapidly coming and going in random order. Out of all the events she saw from her past, two in particular she viewed with regret...

Not forgiving Werner before he died, and not kissing Kurtis when she had the chance.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Well we're entering the final push! Just two more chapters and an epilogue and this story is finished!_

 _The scene with Lara in the crater was heavily inspired by the piece "Where We're Going" from the Interstellar soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, particularly starting from about 3:45 onwards. The scene between Lara and Karel was heavily inspired by the track "Stay" from the same soundtrack. The beginning's a little slow, from 2:55 onward is where it really gets interesting, but the whole track is great. Same for the other. "Stay" just really makes me think of Karel/the Nephilim now._

 _As always, thanks for reading and reviewing! I just got a tumblr about a week ago under the same name so if you wanna send me an ask about anything related to this fanfic I completely welcome it! Esp. since I can't respond directly to anonymous reviews on here, that could be one way to talk to me :)_

 _~Clairesail_


	17. The Light of Truth

**~ 1** **6** **:** **The Light of Truth ~**

* * *

The beautiful, rhythmic chanting filled her ears. With her eyes closed, she could almost pretend she was somewhere serene, somewhere peaceful, like a monastery filled with praying monks. But the hand that held her down did so with an unpleasant dominance, the icy palm pressing between her breasts was painfully cold, so much so that her mind couldn't find reprieve from what she knew would come.

As Lara prepared to feel the blade plunge into her, a quiet yet familiar whirling noise caught her attention. She opened her eyes just in time to see the Chirugai slice across Karel's forearm and blood spurt out. When he drew back his wounded arm and clutched it with his hand, he dropped the Periapt Shard by her head and let out an agonized moan. Lara quickly rolled away, stood to her feet, and kicked the blade, sending it skidding across the stone floor to the other side of the room.

"Lara!" Kurtis shouted, and she glanced over at him and smiled. Before Karel could recover, she crossed the room at a sprint and knelt behind one of the columns, hands still tied behind her back. Morgau and Kurtis had entered from one of the other doors opposite where she had arrived, and Morgau was currently firing her rifle back through it while taking cover behind a column, evidently fighting off mercs that had followed them. Karel began to glow with a green aura, the energy concentrated and building in his hands as he hovered in the air.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." Kurtis shouted, crouching behind one of the pillars with his Boran X in hand. "I got a little held up by those meatbags out there. Gunderson's crop has _really_ gone downhill since I left." Gunderson's angry growl could be heard from across the room. "You can't have her, Nephilim." he declared resolutely.

"You're like a cockroach, Lux Veritatis. One thinks they've killed it but it – just – keeps – crawling. No matter, I'll finish the job myself this time. The same goes for your traitorous friend, though that will be a kindness compared to the death that would otherwise await her."

Morgau stopped firing, looking back over her shoulder at Karel as she switched out her magazine. Her piercing gaze said she took that personally. Switching gears, she closed the door they had entered from and started shooting blindly in the direction of Gunderson, who huddled further behind the column he used as cover. Her bullet-spray slowly began to chip off pieces of the pillar, gradually exposing his flank. He popped out from behind it in between pauses in her shooting when she switched mags, and returned fire.

Kurtis in the meantime, slid a knife across the floor towards Lara, who ran to it and kicked it until it landed behind the nearest column. She crouched and grabbed it with her hands behind her back, twisting it around so she could begin cutting the rope with it. Karel began to rapidly fire off orbs of his energy towards Kurtis, releasing one after another. Kurtis dodged them while flinging his Chirugai in return, though with nothing distracting the Nephilim he was easily able to avoid the spinning blade.

After a few minutes of this, with neither gaining the advantage in the fight, Lara could see both battles were at a stalemate. They needed a catalyst to tip the scales.

She could be that.

Finally free from the rope, she poked her head out to search out her supplies. Her backpack and holsters laid together in a heap by the door she had entered from; still in the place Gunderson discarded them.

She sprinted around the perimeter of the room, behind the posts – though she was largely ignored – scooped them up and took cover again behind another archway. Once geared up again, she doubled-checked that the Sanglyph was still in her possession. It was there, nestled safely in the bottom of her backpack, undisturbed. _Perfect._

She had the Sanglyph to destroy the Sleepers and Karel had also been freed of one Shard. The other two still hung from his belt, but they would need all three to kill him. This would be the tricky part, Lara knew, because in order to get close enough to take them away one would be exposing themselves to his attacks. Though his energy attacks weren't instantly fatal, they _were_ extremely painful and she doubted she could take a ton of hits before yielding.

A grunt brought her attention over to Kurtis, who stood out in the open, clutching his side in pain. Lara ran over to him and pushed him to cover. Out in the open she could hear Karel hovering in the air, summoning and storing his energy in his palms, preparing to unleash more attacks. She removed Kurtis' hand from his side momentarily, and saw spots of crimson spread through his shirt underneath his jacket. She went to lift his shirt to inspect it further while simultaneously reaching into her backpack for a medical kit, but he batted her away.

"Not now. Bastard needs to die first." he grunted.

With her head still bowed, she looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Kurtis, we need the Shards. You know you can't kill him without them."

"Yeah but I can still hurt him with this," he said as he held up the Chirugai. Leaning his head back against the cool stone, he laboriously struggled to catch his breath.

 _He shouldn't have to do this_ , she thought woefully. Hadn't he given enough? Must he give his life as well? She had been preparing to accept her own death... but _his,_ she could never. He couldn't do this on his own; he needed her help.

"I think I have a plan."

* * *

Morgau squeezed the trigger one last time and heard the _click-click_ of the bolt racking back. Empty, and that was her last mag. Discarding the gun, she unsheathed her knife and approached the post she knew Gunderson was crouched behind. Gunderson poked his head around the bullet ridden column and saw her drawing near, with a shocked expression he raised his gun. But with a mere flick of her wrist, she sent his gun flying out of his hands.

His eyes widened once more. _Damn that bitch_ , he thought as he stood to his towering height, _damn her and her_ _psychic nonsense._ Enraged, he charged at her with a roar, recalling all the times she defied his orders, all the times she was not completely loyal to him and the Agency. She was a crazy bitch, a lunatic, and now he was going to rid her from his employment permanently.

Just as he threw a hefty punch that would have knocked out a lesser man, she darted to the side impossibly quick and pushed him, the force of both the push and the weight behind his own strike causing him to stumble. She unsheathed the serrated knife she kept at her belt and began to swipe at him, missing by a mere hair's width every time. Gunderson could feel the air pass by as the blade nearly caught him, but being pushed caused him to lose his balance and that saved his life.

He fell over onto his back, and Morgau sprung on top of him like a feral cat, prepared to attack. Though her strength, speed, and reflexes were augmented, she was still a small, slight woman, and Gunderson a large, bulking man: her strength was only on par with his. He grabbed her wrists as she went for his throat and roughly ripped them to the side. A gruesome snapping sound rang out, and she cried out in pain and rolled off of him.

Clutching her now broken wrist, still weakly clinging onto her blade, she scooted away from him as he stood and approached. Her face twisted into an ugly mask of rage. She felt herself teetering dangerously close to losing control – and that would be a very bad thing with this opponent. She felt the bones and tendons in her wrist start to re-knit themselves together, healing and releasing a rush of endorphins to combat the damaged nerves. Gunderson examined her growing smile and drew back in revulsion, realizing that her broken bone had _already healed._

She rushed at him this time, knife clenched tightly, and speared his waist with her head. Men like Gunderson, who were all muscle up top, were relatively easy to topple over for her. And topple over was what he did. He fell back down, but took a fist full of Morgau's hair in his hand as he did so, resulting in her falling with him. Landing with an _oof_ in a tangle of limbs, she suddenly felt his thick, meaty hands wrap around her neck before she could recover. He loomed over her prone figure and slowly began squeezing her neck tighter and tighter, until it felt like her eyeballs would pop right out of their sockets.

When she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she reached to his fingers and tried to pry them away. But there was something in her hand. _Oh that's right_ , she remembered, she had her knife. She sunk the blade in his arm, and though he grunted in pain, he did not move an inch. Instead the pressure on her neck increased, and the black spots at the edge of her vision began to grow darker.

Withdrawing the knife from his arm, she then started slashing in turn at his neck, narrowly missing it as she was just out of reach. Damn her short stature, the man's arms were twice the length of hers. She haphazardly began stabbing and slicing at his arms, his torso, whatever was in reach. Finally it was too much for him and he took one hand off her throat and to grab hers that was holding the knife. As he fumbled to take it, the pressure on her neck eased somewhat and she quickly brought both her hands to his wrist, and twisted it to the side until she was able to slip out of his grasp.

Gasping for air, she took advantage of his disorientation and sat up enough to connect a punch to his face. The blow landed on his nose, breaking it, and caused blood to gush out. _Now_ he was mad.

" _You stupid bitch!"_ he thundered, and he started throwing his fists at her clumsily, which she easily evaded. Each blow landed against the hard rock, and soon his knuckles were torn and bloody. Picking up the discarded knife in between his attacks, she swiftly plunged the knife deep into his belly, withdrew it, and in quick succession plunged it in two more times. She watched with morbid fascination as the blood ran out, soaking the front of his clothes.

She rolled him off of her and stood up. _Good riddance_ , she thought.

* * *

On the other side of the room Lara retrieved the first Periapt Shard where it lay across the room, and prepared the Sanglyph. She slipped the glove over her hand, the same one Eckhardt had used to disembowel and torture his victims, then fitted her gloved fingers through the holes of the Sanglyph.

Kurtis was doing his best to distract Karel, who floated in the air firing green hazardous bolts and orbs at him. Her plan was to destroy the Sleepers while he was busy fighting Kurtis, but every time she started to get close to the sarcophagi he'd whirl around and throw a bolt at _her._ Though it was plain he wasn't putting in so much effort to hurt her as he was just to keep her away, something told her if she pushed her luck he wouldn't hesitate to find himself another Queen. So while he wasn't really bothering her so long as she kept her distance, it gave her time to think. She needed a bigger diversion, but Kurtis was already doing as much as he possibly could without the means to kill him.

Kurtis panted and wiped the sweat from his brow. He clutched the side where he'd been wounded earlier. The bleeding had stopped, but brought along with it a constant pain, both real and phantom from when he was stabbed through by Boaz's stinger. He needed to stop getting himself into these situations. But first he needed to get himself out of _this one_ alive. Lara wasn't able to get close to either Karel or the Sleepers without him turning on her, which was useless. It gave him an opening to throw the Chirugai at him but that would never kill him, no matter how much he did it. He had an idea on how she could get within melee-range safely, but he had never tried it before...

All of a sudden, he saw Morgau run up with frightening speed to the levitating Karel and with a jump, grabbed his heels and pulled him down. At such close range, the energy blast he released on her struck her to the ground, and she cried out as she slid across the smooth stone floor. Karel lowered himself so his feet touched the ground, and began walking toward her. She stood after a moment, just in time for him to grab her by the throat with a hand glowing green. He looked at her with contempt, probably wondering whether it was bravery or stupidity that caused her to charge at him.

At the same time Lara started to run over to them, and he saw Morgau brace her feet against Karel's bare chest and push off him, flipping herself around and breaking his hold on her neck. In the next second she pulled the Periapt Shards from his belt and made to plunge them in, but Karel placed his open palm against her chest. She was paralyzed, but looked at him in defiance.

Karel shook his head. "Stupid mortal." he chided. The green light radiating from his hand grew brighter until it flashed white, and with a gurgling scream Morgau writhed and then went limp, falling to the floor.

Lara gasped. She automatically began to change course towards Morgau, but stopped herself. Now was her chance. She dashed toward the nearest sarcophagus with the Sanglyph in hand and began pushing the lid off. The scraping noise that emitted caught the Nephilim's attention, and he turned to her and began pelting orbs at her, enraged. She braced herself for the impact, but they seemed to glance off and vanish before reaching her face. Across the room, she saw Kurtis quietly concentrating his mind towards her with his hand extended.

With a great shove, she heaved the stone lid off and it crashed to the floor. The Nephilim Sleeper inside looked similar to the one from the Strahov: pale grey flesh, two small horns protruding from the sides of the eyebrows, strange carvings adorning the face and body, and incomplete wing bones sticking out of the shoulder blades. This one differed in two ways, however: it had long, silken, white hair and wide child-bearing hips. A female.

She looked up. Karel had started advancing towards her. She jumped over the body to its neighboring tomb and began pushing the lid off of that one too. Karel was nearly upon her, but a flying Chirugai swooped down to cut off his way, giving her the distraction needed to finish. The second sleeping Nephilim was like the first – a female – but her belly was distended. _How could it be possible...?_

Suddenly Karel's plans to re-breed the race with only two other Nephilim made sense.

With the Sanglyph in hand, she placed it on the chest of the pregnant Nephilim and felt the electricity shoot through it. A white, hot light grew brighter until it blinded her. Eyes shut tight, she moved the Sanglyph to the other body. Her ears rung and it almost seemed as if the ringing was out loud, echoing through the chamber. Karel's admonishment bellowed out, she could smell burning flesh, and somewhere in the back of her mind, something told her to _move._ That something sounded an awful lot like Kurtis' voice.

So she moved. She let go of the Sanglyph before it could erupt and ran in the opposite direction, the light originating from that strange artifact still so bright and blinding she ran with her eyes closed. The sarcophagi exploded a moment later, encasing the surrounding altar in a fireball. The heat and force of the blast knocked Lara back and her head hit the stone floor.

* * *

There was his chance. As Lara held the Sanglyph on the tomb, Karel had turned his back on him and the Shards. Kurtis ran to the blades, pocketing them, and looked to the girl.

Morgau's corset was leaking a strange creamy fluid. Her eyes were open and empty, staring at the ceiling. He put his fingers to her throat to feel for a pulse, but heard Karel shouting at Lara.

"Lara, run!" he shouted to his partner. He watched as she let go of the disc a little too late, not giving herself enough time to reach cover. He shielded his eyes and Morgau's body – though he feared it wouldn't matter to her – and braced for the explosion.

When he opened his eyes, the two sarcophagi in the middle were completely destroyed, now merely a pile of rubble. From where he stood no traces of the Sleepers could be seen, presumably having dissipated into thin air, as Nephilim corpses did. Lara laid on the floor, having been brutally thrown from the blast. He wanted to go to her, but there was someone standing in his way.

He looked up to see Karel, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Without any words, he began to attack.

At first it was just the usual energy bolts, easily dodged and blocked by his own shield. But soon that wasn't enough for his rage, and Karel started to throw punches and kicks, resorting to melee combat.

"Why do you insist on this idiocy?" The Nephilim asked with gritted teeth, as he swung at Kurtis' head and missed. His refined voice was now hot with fury, and his eyes blazed with wrath.

"My mother used to say I didn't know when to give up."

A hit connected with Karel's jaw, sending him stumbling momentarily, but he quickly righted himself. Kurtis thought they must have looked like a peculiar pair: An angel with huge feathered wings locked in a bare knuckle brawl with an unkempt man in a Nirvana t-shirt.

Karel swung at Kurtis again, who with his Chirugai sliced across his knuckles. Withdrawing his hand with a hiss, a green fire enveloped the disc, which pulled the weapon from Kurtis' grasp and burned his hand at the same time.

They brawled with just bare fists then, dipping and lunging almost in synch; it looked more like a choreographed dance than a fight. Their blows were blocked by the other; their attacks countered. They were a true match for each other: the Light of Truth versus the Angel of Darkness. Kurtis barreled Karel in the gut, ramming him into one of the columns. The force of the impact was so strong that the column cracked in half and caved in, debris falling on the pair. Karel threw the Lux Veritatis off him with a blast of his green power, and when Kurtis righted himself he extended his hand and made a piece of the detached column crash into the Nephilim.

Just then Lara groaned. Both men jerked their heads at the sound. As Kurtis knelt and panted for air – still weakened from the torture and the constant fighting he'd been doing since he was separated from Lara – Karel ascended into the air and flew over near the rubble and near Lara. He erected a force-field made of his power, encompassing himself and Lara in it, but leaving Kurtis on the other side. The demon hunter cursed.

"Since she's killed my beloveds," Karel rasped, voice choked with sorrow, "I have no use for a Queen."

Kurtis knew what he was doing.

" _Nephilim!_ Come and face me like a man!" He hollered at the other, but the angel only laughed.

Karel was putting the Nephilim's last line of defense into motion: The Three Realities. When their enemy was in possession of the means to destroy them, the Nephilim would blind them to reality and force them to face their worst fears, until they eventually were killed by it. Though the powers of the Lux Veritatis and the Nephilim were often on similar but opposite levels – yin to yang, white to black, good to evil – in this case the force-field Karel erected couldn't be physically breached by Kurtis.

The Nephilim blanketed both himself and Lara in the field, and the only way to break it would be with the Shards, from the inside. Kurtis would be unable to fight from his position.

But psychically... perhaps it was possible to counteract it.

Suddenly a rumble vibrated through the arena. The destruction had come with a price. The explosion caused by the Sanglyph had set off a chain reaction in the dome. Dust sprinkled down from the cave ceiling as the room rumbled. A crack sprouted in the ceiling, and water slowly began to dribble from it.

Kurtis looked down from this, steeling himself for the war he was about to wage, more exhausting than the fight he was just engaged in. He stretched his arms out and began chanting. _"Luceat eais in materia virentis. V_ _olare incipit ab initio ad scopus._ _Maxima vires ad incrementum..."_

He needed to help Lara through the trials ahead, or she'd never make it. _And if it t_ _akes_ _too long_ , he thought as he glanced at that crack in the ceiling again, _neither of_ _us will_.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Almost done! No spectacular music for this chapter except for "Boaz Returns" also sometimes called "Karel" from the Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness soundtrack by Peter Connelly. The Latin Kurtis speaks was supposed to be something he did in-game, in order to summon up his powers._

 _~ Clairesail_


	18. The Three Realities

**~ 17 : The Three Realities ~**

* * *

Dazed and wincing in pain, Lara gingerly got up and touched the back of her head where it hit the floor. Her fingers came back red; she'd cut herself. She examined her surroundings. The floor shook slightly, like an earthquake, and all around her was white. Snow, so glaring she had to squint against it. It extended past the horizon for as far as she could see. It was just snow, but something about it was eerily familiar. She spun in place and froze when she saw what was behind her.

A wrecked plane burned on the snow mound. A charred corpse flung from the cabin. Her boots, when she looked down at her feet, were different; they were the ones she wore in her youth. And her trousers and puffy coat as well. They were the same as the ones she wore when she was twenty-one, and her plane crashed in the Himalayan mountains with her as the only survivor.

She knew this had to be some sort of illusion. There was no way Karel had the power to send her back in time. But how would she escape this?

Somewhere in the distance, she heard a faint call... it sounded like her name...

Then a wolf howled. Instantly her chest tightened. She wasn't afraid of wolves, not anymore at least...but _back then..._

She shook her head and went to draw her weapons, but her holsters were gone. Of course, she hadn't had any weapons with her when the plane crashed; she was still an aristocrat, a proper Lady, and had never killed before. Bending down, she felt under the snow until she found a large rock, and hefted it in her hands. It all _felt_ real – the cold nipping at her skin, the wind tousling her hair and blowing snowflakes onto her – so there was no reason to believe whatever was here couldn't hurt her.

She recalled what she did that life-changing day. She had trekked teary-faced and scared out of her mind down the mountain until finding help, all the while being tracked by a pack of wolves. She had to kill or be killed – and so it would seem she'd have to do that once more.

As she started to trudge through the snow, the voice she had heard earlier sounded again. It was faint, but it was definitely calling her name.

"Hello?" she called back, stopping to peer through the snowfall and gusts of wind. But she didn't see anyone, only a small figure moving in the shadows, creeping along as if trying to remain hidden.

Lara quickly bent her knees in a crouch, preparing to run or attack if necessary. She knew exactly what it was. The wolf soon jumped out and ran at her, snarling. When he leapt at her she bashed his skull with the rock, knocking him over with a yelp. Then while he laid there momentarily stunned, she repeated the action over and over until blood stained the rock and her fingers, making it slip from her grasp. She stood and ran then, knowing that the others in the pack would be following right after.

" _Lara...!"_

There was that voice again. It was distinctly male; it sounded like Kurtis. But where was he?

She continued to run, hearing the pattering of the wolf pack's many paws treading against the ground behind her, giving chase with growls and barks. They were faster than her, and would soon catch up. She'd have to hope for good luck.

" _.._ _ard...use the...sha-"_

 _"_ _se..th..shard..."_

The Shard!

She reached into her backpack and retrieved the Periapt Shard she'd stored there. Though her pistols were missing, her backpack wasn't, and it's contents seemed to be intact. With it in hand, she turned and braced herself, Shard held at neck-height where she knew the wolf would attack first. As soon as she had turned and got into position, the first wolf had already jumped, and he leapt straight for her face.

The Shard plunged deeply in the canine's body, hitting it squarely in his trachea. It gurgled, then seemed to flicker like static.

Karel stood there with the Periapt Shard plunged into his chest. She was back in the ritual room. All around her was some kind of force-field, in the same greenish hue as the Nephilim's energy bolt. His own aura grew dim as he stood there, and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut as he groaned.

Kurtis was on the other side of the energy field. His arms were extended and his eyes squinted, as if concentrating very hard. Sweat dripped down his face and neck and he was as pale as a ghost. Seeing her noticing him, he dropped his arms as he took deep breaths, and withdrew the other two Periapt Shards from his belt pack. He threw them to her; they passed through the barrier without problem, seemingly unaffected by it, as they were the only weapons capable of hurting a Nephilim. The blades landed on the floor near her feet, and as Lara reached to pick them up Kurtis and Karel disappeared from her sight. The scenery changed in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Lara was in a valley next, with the vast rock walls on either side climbing so high they obscured most of the sky above. There was grass matting the floor in patches and tropical trees scattered around. She could hear the rush of moving water and from where she stood she counted three waterfalls.

It was then she realized she was really in _that_ valley. The lost valley.

The smallest vibration was felt in the bottom of her feet, barely noticeable at first. It came and went, like a metronome, starting slowly, and as the pace increased between vibrations, so did the force. Soon she could feel the thrum up to her knees.

She drew her pistols. She was in her old explorer outfit: boots, brown shorts, twin holsters, and aqua-blue shirt. Even though she'd faced this creature before more than once, the dread was still harrowing. The primal reaction that came from seeing such an infamous predator was one she couldn't train herself to overcome.

As the gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex came into view through the dense fog, Lara didn't wait a second longer. She took off at a steady jog, arching to the left of the dinosaur as she shot at it. The creature came to a halt when it realized its intended prey had moved, then turned and lunged for her with its gaping jaws. But she was experienced in taking down these beasts, so she had already moved further along its flank where it couldn't reach her.

As she kept firing and evading, an idea suddenly came to her. T-Rex's weren't known for their great vision, but were attracted to movement and light. When she'd gotten around near the rear of the creature, taking care to avoid its huge hind feet and tail, she quickly holstered one pistol and reached into her backpack.

She dug out a flare and lit it, then winding her arm back, she threw it across the foggy valley as far as she could. The dinosaur was distracted by it, pausing a moment to track its movement through the air, then promptly darted off towards it. Lara ducked just in time to avoid being knocked over by the beast's enormous tail. She waited until it reached the flare before she made her escape.

She sprinted off towards one of the waterfalls. If this hallucination, vision, reality – whatever this was – was accurate, there was a small tunnel near one of the waterfalls that she would be able to safely shoot from. She just had to reach it before the T-Rex reached her.

She wasn't afraid anymore. After all, she had one of their heads mounted on her wall at home. But killing a T-Rex was never going to be a small feat.

Just as she reached the relative safety of the tunnel, she felt a gush of hot breath blow against her back, as she narrowly missed being crunched between its jaws. As soon as she was far enough in that the beast's head couldn't fit in, she turned on her toes and started shooting it again, watching as the bullets imbedded in its tough skin. Blood came out in small spurts from the multitude of tiny wounds, but it seemed it wasn't enough. The dinosaur should be dead by now.

It was then she caught a glimpse of something shimmering. There, in the middle of the beast's chest, right under its two arms, was a spot that appeared brighter than the rest. Like someone was shining a flashlight on that spot.

A roar thundered out, and a hot smelly gust of breath washed over her. She turned on her heels and took off further down the tunnel, curving to the left and climbing up until she reached the other side. She was now at the other mouth of the cave, high up from the ground and overlooking a waterfall to her right. The T-Rex noticed her absence and lifted its head from the other side and stomped off.

In a crouch, Lara waited with her pocket knife in hand. She held absolutely still in order to keep herself unnoticed. When the ancient animal passed under her, she leapt on its back and dug the knife in to root herself. It roared once more and began turning in circles and flinging its head as if to throw her off, but she held on fast.

When she finally managed to get on all fours without slipping, she pulled the knife free and – using it as an anchor – climbed around the Rex's torso. When she reached his middle, she dug out the second Periapt Shard from her backpack and sunk it to the hilt.

Like the changing of a television channel, her entire world switched. She was suddenly back in Cappadocia, and Karel was in front of her once more, this time with two Shards protruding from his chest. She looked to where she knew Kurtis was standing. Somehow she knew the glow on the T-Rex's body had been his doing. He knelt on his knees as if exhausted and was drenched in sweat, but he still held his arms out towards the force-field. He was muttering in Latin, both fighting Karel and helping her in the only way he could from where he was.

Then she was shrouded in utter darkness.

* * *

The deep rumbling of a thunderstorm filled Lara's ears. Dust sprinkled down, covering her braided hair like a veil. She brushed it from her face as her eyes adjusted to the dark.

A few paces in front of her was a slamming piece of stone, going from side-to-side. But that wasn't the only cause of the rumbling; there were vibrations in the floor and walls in a rhythm that didn't match the stones. Lara had to steady herself against the wall a few times. Her right ankle ached, and she felt overwhelmingly exhausted. She hadn't remembered hurting herself in the T-Rex fight, but...

Never mind. She knew exactly where she was. _What_ this was. Of course Karel wouldn't waste this opportunity to torment her. But she knew the longer she delayed this, the harder it would be to finish it. She sprinted past the block of stone, then another, and another. She panted from the exertion, but she couldn't stop running or it would be her death. Rocks toppled down from the ceiling all around her, but the darkness meant her only way of knowing was the deafening crashes and claps that echoed through the passageways. And there, far off in the distance: a tiny beam of light.

She jumped over deep chasms by the light of her flare; she climbed over rock piles that threatened to block her way. All the while the thunderous cacophany grew more intense, occurred more frequently. Finally that tiny beam of light in the distance had gradually grown larger. Lara could now see the shape of the exit. As she neared her freedom her apprehension grew, because she knew it was a false hope.

As she slowed and limped to the exit, she paused to catch her breath and let her swollen ankle rest. The inviting warm sunlight that shone on her was suddenly overshadowed by a figure. She lifted a hand and squinted against the glare, but she already knew who it was. She found herself smiling despite herself; she hadn't realized how much she had wanted to see him again.

Before she could say anything, the temple shook again, and Werner's voice crystal-clear and life-like sounded out:

"Quickly girl, before it collapses around you!"

A shower of rocks came loose and fell all around her, which knocked her back against the wall. She didn't say the words she said the first time. Though she knew this wasn't real, it _felt_ real, and she found herself completely at a loss for words at the sight of her former mentor standing before her, alive and well. The chance to relive this moment was never something she expected to experience; it was never something she expected to _want_ to experience. But she was overcome with the emotions that flooded her unexpectedly, so strong she didn't know how she had been suppressing them until now.

Even without her talking, he went on: "Your hand, Lara! Give me your hand!"

As she stood there the ground beneath her started to tremble and falter, but she felt frozen in place. The moment stretched on, as if suspended in time. Would she run after that outstretched hand that would soon retreat, leaving her to her doom? And then what? Survive all this only to die under that damn pile of stones?

And if she didn't die...was she expected to stab Werner with the Shard?

 _Move,_ she ordered to herself, _Above all, survive._

And she took off like a bolt, boots stomping against the wobbling rocks underneath her. The floor gave way just as she jumped, and she grabbed the ledge as she heard her mentor say: "Take my hand, I can pull you to safety."

But instead of hanging there, she gathered all her strength and pulled herself up. She went up in one quick, smooth motion; and she went up with so little effort it felt like she had been pushed from below by a strong force. She landed on her feet so quickly she lost her balance, knocking both herself and Werner over and out of the mouth of the tunnel. The pyramid entrance crumbled then, trapping her legs under a few stones, which after gathering her breath, she kicked off. She stood then and smiled at the old man.

"Good to see you again, Werner."

The landscaped flickered then, like static. She glimpsed the ritual room in that second. Kurtis had moved to stand at the edge of the force-field, and Karel was behind her. But then the image was gone and she was back in Egypt, with the sun rising along the horizon. She turned to where she last saw the Nephilim.

A bust of Seth protruded from above the now closed-off entrance. She took the last Periapt Shard from her backpack and strode towards the sculpture, but something tugged on her arm and stopped her.

Werner held onto her arm, only two years older but seemingly aged a decade from stress and worry. Her surroundings morphed to a darkened apartment, and the archaeologist was pleading with her: " _People are dying out there!_ "

She ignored the urge to be gentle with him, telling herself he was just a hallucination. The real Von Croy was dead, murdered by that freak who was now trying to trick her and kill her. She ripped her jacket sleeve out of his grasp, turning away from him. The motion, originally done in rejection, was done this time in sadness.

 _Come on, Kurtis_ , she thought. Any moment Karel-disguised-as-Eckhardt would come through that imaginary door, and in this place she had no guns, only the Shard; and she had no idea what other disadvantages she faced here, in this place that blurred the lines between memories and reality.

She scanned her eyes across the apartment. An object laying on a table seemed to blur and vibrate, like it was trying to call out to her.

She spared one last glance to her one-time mentor.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, though she knew he wasn't really there, and rushed past him. She approached the staff on the table. Its handle was the head of Seth, and before she could overthink it, she stabbed the Periapt Shard at its eyes. The blade went through it like soft butter, and abruptly she was back in the ritual room.

* * *

The next thing Lara was aware of was wetness in her boots. She blinked to clear her vision, and looked into the disdainful gaze of a being who thought himself equal to God. The feathers on Karel's wings were molting, falling languidly to rest on the surface of the water that came to their calves. His skin turned ashy grey and dry. If she dug her fingernails in, Lara wondered if she could crumble it. With three Periapt Shards sticking out from his chest, all of his green aura and energy had disappeared, including the force-field. She took a step back.

Suddenly a bang went off, and in the middle of the Nephilim's head, right between his eyes, appeared a small hole. A thin trail of blood seeped out, running down the length of his face, before he fell to the floor. Kurtis walked up beside Lara then, holstering his Boran X. She gave him a peculiar look.

"Just want to make sure the fucker's really dead."

The last remaining Nephilim vaporized, disappearing in a thin cloud of mist before their eyes.

Lara assessed her partner's condition. He seemed dead on his feet, barely able to stand, and as she was about to ask if he was OK, he started to fall against her. She caught him and propped him against her shoulder.

"Kurtis!"

"Don't worry, it's mostly mental." he sighed. "I need a vacation."

Lara looked around her. There was water all throughout the ritual room. Rocks and boulders had fallen from the ceiling, and through these gaps and cracks water from the lake above poured down in waterfalls. Then Lara remembered someone.

"Morgau!" she exclaimed. Then, first making sure Kurtis was able to stand on his own again, she let go and ran over to where she saw the girl's body lying face up in the water. Kurtis made no move to follow.

She knelt by her body. It was immediately apparent she was dead. Nevertheless Lara placed two fingers to her throat and felt for a pulse, but her skin was cold, clammy, and she was completely lifeless; no heartbeat. The metal corset she wore was leaking a creamy, thick fluid from its various injection ports and seams – possibly the alchemical elixir that sustained her. The final shock Karel gave her must have sent it out of balance and killed her. She had died with her eyes open, staring into nothingness, and Lara felt a sudden swell of sadness for the girl who had experienced the worst of humanity in her short life. She had every reason to serve the dark forces, but instead, chose to help her and Kurtis out in the end, and gave up her life so that they could kill Karel.

A chunk of rock came crashing down in front of the door, projected by the force of the increasing water pressure. The way Kurtis had entered was now blocked by the huge boulder. Lara stood, legs trembling slightly from exhaustion and the cold water sloshing at her legs. The water from the lake above began to rapidly fill the cavern.

Kurtis trudged over and grabbed her by arm, capturing her attention.

"There's nothing we can do for her now. Let's go." he said almost calmly, but there was a tension in his voice. Lara remembered that he hated swimming.

They waded over to the blocked exit, the water now thigh-high and rising. While there were several more doors behind other arches, they had no idea what laid beyond them. Lara knew their best chance for an escape was with the hole opened in the ceiling. Which meant...

Seeing where Lara's gaze landed, Kurtis swallowed against the butterflies that swarmed in his gut. She was right, of course. Even if they went through one of the other doors, at the rate the lake was draining, they'd still end up having to swim.

"I'll lead the way." Lara declared.

She trudged through the water, now waist high, until she reached one of the columns. She climbed on the fallen rocks to get out of the water, and then reached down to help Kurtis up. It being the middle of February, it was considerably cold out, and if they stayed in the water too long they could risk hypothermia. The majority of the force was concentrated at that one spot, it was likely any more rocks would chip off from the edge of the hole, making it larger. They knew they needed to keep a safe distance from it, and watch the ceiling closely.

When the water had climbed up the rocks and had submerged their legs again, Lara huddled closer to Kurtis to try to keep warm. He wrapped his arms around her as they fought off chills. His brows were pinched, his breath coming in fast and quick, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"How long can you hold your breath?" she spoke loudly into his ear to be heard over the roar of the waterfall. More slabs of rock and gushes of mud fell down around them, causing the water to pour in faster, to the point that the cavern would be filled in a minute or less.

Kurtis made a jerky movement in the water that might have been a shrug, might have been a shiver.

"When the water reaches my neck, we'll start swimming. Shouldn't be long now." she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone.

The water soon reached her neck, and with a brief backward glance, she took hold of his jacket sleeve, and began treading along the surface of the water towards the hole. The pressure of the water coming through would be too strong to attempt to exit while water was still pouring in, so they got as close as they dared and waited.

Taking one last gulp of air, she dipped under the surface and swam, never letting go of Kurtis the whole time. She turned upwards when she reached the opening and swam through, going up and up. She spared a glance down to make sure Kurtis was all right. He was, though his strokes were far clumsier and less efficient. She paused a moment to face him, then gripping his jacket lapels, continued while tugging him along facing him, pulling him up with her. She half-expected him to jerk away, but he simply swam with her as best he could.

Shortly after clearing the jagged tunnel created by the explosion-induced earthquake, they broke the surface. Most of the lake had drained into the ritual room below, leaving the shallow lake even shallower than before. Gasping for breath – and Kurtis inhaling like a man who'd never had a breath of fresh air before - they slowly made their way to the shore and climbed up the slippery, sooty lake bed until they were on normal ground.

Kurtis collapsed in the muck, panting still and with the occasional tremble from the cold. Brushing his jacket aside, he lifted his shirt up to inspect the wound to his side. A nasty burn mark that would need some ointment and bandages before it became infected, though Lara suspected that wasn't much of a problem for someone of his kind.

She stood over him, facing the rising sun to soak up its warmth, and breathed deeply. A weight had been lifted. Relief flooded her veins, a high almost as great as adrenaline, but then she remembered something and her mood dipped.

It must have showed on her face, for Kurtis looked up at her questioningly, squinting against the sun that rose beside them, and wiped away some wet hair strands that stuck to his face. "What is it?" he asked, and stood up carefully.

"The Periapt Shards, Kurtis. We left them again." she said, dejected.

He cocked his head to the side. "Did we?" Then, reaching into his pack, he produced a shimmering dagger and held it for her to see.

Lara felt a genuine smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

"When...?"

"You were saying goodbye to Morgau." He answered. A silence settled over them, and he returned the blade to his belt pack.

"It's good you have them back now." She said simply, suddenly feeling shy and uncertain. _What now?_

"Happy to be done with this." He sighed, then gently, he reached around to the back of her head and touched her scalp. She winced at the contact, reminded of the whack to the head she suffered earlier. She grabbed his arm and brought it down as she smiled at him. Kurtis chuckled lightly, amused by her reaction.

"Should get that checked out when we get back." he said as he placed a hand lightly on her waist.

Lara's smile wavered, but didn't leave completely. She placed an open hand on his cheek, stroked it down to his neck, her eyes searching his. With her hand cupping around the back of his neck, she pulled him down to meet her lips.

The contact was like a breaking dam, and their suppressed passion was unleashed. He pulled her body flush with his, bringing one hand to cup her cheek as the other roamed her torso, eventually settling at the small of her back. She returned the kiss with enthusiasm - ignoring the aches and the pains and the coldness from the water - and opened her mouth to him, allowing them to taste each other.

After an eternity that ended too soon, they parted with foreheads touching, panting again. With a tenderness that matched his disarming at the Louvre, he took her chin between his forefinger and thumb and gently kissed her lips again. He sighed her name, and she embraced him.

The two walked back to the jeep where they'd left it, hand-in-hand, the sun risen high up to its place in the sky.

* * *

 **A/N:** _And with that, the story is finished. All that's left is a short Epilogue, which I'll try to get up soonish. I'll include a long Author's Note at the bottom of the Epilogue with details I never implemented in the story and the like. Thank you to everyone who's read this, especially to those who've taken the time to leave reviews. They mean the world to me._

 _The Three Realities was an idea Murti had for a boss fight originally for Eckhardt, but it appeared he also thought to reuse the idea for Karel in one of the sequel games (possibly after many of the cuts to AoD were made)._

 _Music: For the final Reality, I listened to "No Time for Caution" from the Interstellar soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Seriously, if you've never seen this movie or heard the soundtrack, I highly recommend it. It's breathtaking. The T-Rex fight was obviously inspired by the T-Rex theme from the first TR game - "Gruesome Encounter" by Nathan McCree ;) And for Lara and Kurtis escaping and kissing on the bank of the Damsa Lake, I think the ending of the Angel of Darkness Main Theme (by Peter Connelly), from about 1:25 on, fits so perfectly._

 _~Clairesail_


	19. Epilogue

**~ Epilogue ~**

* * *

Calloused, nimble fingers – yet still somehow soft, at least compared to his own – stroked down his chest, petting the dark tuft of hair there. He took her hand with his, stopping her. She was teasing him again, and he didn't think he could handle it anymore. At least not for another few hours.

Lara was resting her head on his shoulder, her loose hair painting the pillows under them a beautiful auburn. They laid on the bed in her master bedroom, and the only clothing they wore were the fine cotton sheets tangled in their limbs.

Two weeks had passed since Joachim Karel died and the last of the Nephilim were sent along with him. Immediately after escaping the flooding tunnels Lara and Kurtis returned to Ankara to inform Jean-Yves that the world was safe once again from the Nephilim and Cabal. From there the two separated with plans to meet again in England. Kurtis returned to Germany to finally put his father Konstantin's body to rest and dispose of all the other Cabal monstrosities. He burned down the entirety of the Chamber of Oddities with its preserved, waxen corpses. He destroyed all the files, notes, and evidence of the Cabal's mockery of science; their sick, twisted research and the poor mutated experiments that still resided in the shadows of the castle were blotted out for good. He made a brief stop in the Bloodline Room in the lower levels to heal himself, and he collected the ashes from his father's remains into a small container and took it with him; he would return them to his mother.

Lara went first to Austria to visit her former mentor's grave. Werner Von Croy had been buried in a plot next to his father in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof. She stood staring at the tombstone for some time in silence, wishing to speak to him but being unable to utter a sound. If he'd still been there, she thought she would have liked to tell him that she forgave him for Egypt, and to in turn ask for his forgiveness for all her transgressions against him. For leaving him crippled in Cambodia, for not having the compassion to let him keep the Iris, for being unwilling to hear him out after Egypt until it was too late. But instead of saying any of this, she simply stood and stared. Eventually her vision became too blurry to read the engraving, and the tears spilled down her cheeks as she turned away.

After Austria she traveled up to Prague, back to Mathias Vasiley's apartment. There she broke into the crime scene again, still sectioned off by police tape. Since there was no one alive to inherit the property, it remained under police custody while the murder was still being investigated. Lara rifled through the books and papers left behind, and having sat untouched for nearly three months they were coated in a thin layer of dust. Out of all the artifacts and personal belongings in that apartment, Lara was only able to find a single solitary photograph of his daughter. Morgau Vasiley, aged ten years, stood with shoulders slumped and frowning as a large palm rested on her head; her elderly father towered above her from behind, a warm smile on his face. Lara took the photograph with her.

When Kurtis returned to Lara's home in Surrey, neither of them spoke much about what they did while they were gone. They focused only on each other, drinking in every moment.

"So what are you going to do now?" Lara asked, leaning back against Kurtis' bare chest. One arm propped his head up and the other wrapped around her waist, and he kissed her neck as he stared out the balcony windows of her master bedroom. Pulling the sheets up higher – these old manors could get quite drafty – he did a half shrug, though he figured she couldn't see him from where she lay.

"Honestly, I don't know." he sighed. "Stay here and take more swimming lessons?" he joked, recalling how most of her 'swimming lessons' ended. If they could even be called that – they were mostly a mixture of Lara giving him disdainful looks for failing to hold his breath as long as she expected him to and his swim trunks being mysteriously removed.

As he thought of this, he felt her hand run up his thigh, inching teasingly high. For a moment he was distracted, but the question was asked seriously, and he figured he ought to give her a serious answer for once. He rolled onto his back and sighed again, but this one was less content. The tomb raider sat up, holding the sheets to her chest and tucked some loose hair behind her ears.

"What is it?" Lara asked.

Kurtis sighed. "I guess I'll go back to what I was doing before this all started."

"Mercenary work?" she asked with a slightly disapproving tone. He ignored it, knowing she had no idea what it was like to have to work for a living. She got to choose what she did in life, whereas his life chose for him. Still, he didn't resent his father anymore. Running away from his fate was a stupid, adolescent thing of him to do. Now that he'd killed the last remaining Nephilim, he saw just how important his work was. But now that there was no one left, on _either_ side...

"Maybe." he answered after a moment, uncertain. "Maybe not. There's still demons out there. If what your friend said is true... then there's still lots of things out there, things only I might be capable of stopping."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You're going to kill every supernatural being in existence?" she asked incredulously.

He shook his head. "No, no, of course not. In that case I'd have to kill myself too. Just the ones that are killing humans, trying their hand at world domination, you know. And who knows, maybe the Cabal isn't all the way dead; maybe it'll be resurrected. I'll need to be ready for that just in case."

Lara frowned at that. She toyed with the sheets, twisting them between her fingers. "Don't you want to live your own life?" she asked, not meeting his eyes.

He looked at her. "This _is_ my life, Lara. I'm Lux Veritatis. I'm a demon hunter. I tried denying it, but I could never escape it. There's no point to that anymore. I've accepted it." When her frown persisted, he added, "I enjoy it, and I'm good at it."

"But don't you think you should get a say in it? If I just accepted what I was born to do, I'd be married to the Earl of Farringdon right now." Her face scrunched up briefly with disgust.

"I'm not saying that. Being a Lux Veritatis warrior, fulfilling my duty...it just feels right. That's all I'm saying. And," he added as an afterthought, "you looked right at home yourself running around the catacombs."

She crossed her arms. "I told you before I've given that up."

"OK, sure. Do what makes you happy. If holing up here everyday having sex with me does it for you, I think I can sacrifice -" She punched him in the shoulder playfully and he burst into laughter.

 _He has a point_ , Lara thought sourly. She had thought she could quit that life, and she _had_ , before Werner's death forced her back into it. But now that she had experienced it all again, and confronted the events that had changed her so much... She couldn't _really_ hang up her guns again, could she? What kind of life would that be for her?

She leaned in and rested her head on Kurtis' shoulder, held his hand and interlocked their fingers together.

"Do you think it's true then, the theory Jean-Yves told us?" she asked.

"You're asking me? I thought that'd be more your area of expertise."

"I know what I think. I want to hear your opinion." she said, tracing nonsensical shapes on the plains of his stomach, her fingers dipping between the ridges of his muscles.

"It makes no difference to me. Whether my powers are a product of a long line of mutations caused by a meteorite element, or bestowed upon the Lux Veritatis by God Himself to fight evil, I'm going to keep doing what the Order has always done."

"Aw, no world domination?"

"Gotta be immortal for that to really work. And as you can see," he said, patting the large jagged scar that marred his torso among all the smaller ones, "I'm just bones and meat like the rest of them."

"Bones and meat..." she hummed, turning in to kiss his collarbone, "Not _so_ bad..." Then kissed further across, lips gracing his Adam's apple.

She felt it bob as he spoke: "Did you hear about the meteorite crash they discovered in Nevşehir?"

She paused her ministrations, unsure if she heard that right. She went back and frowned at him. His face was a blank mask, but there at the corners of his mouth they twitched with mirth.

"You aren't kidding."

"Nope. Jean-Yves called while you were in the shower-"

"You answered my telephone? That's _Winston's_ job-"

"-and apparently a water reservoir almost completely draining into an underground ritual cavern didn't go unnoticed."

"Did they find...?" She started to ask, but Kurtis already knew what she meant.

"No. I mean, he doesn't know. They let the archaeologists reopen the dig and your friend said they found some bodies, but he doesn't know if one of them is her. But that means she won't have to stay down there much longer. He said he could try to get you a pass for the excavation, but he's not sure if he has that kinda influence in Turkey."

Lara nodded. Though still unsatisfied, Morgau's body wouldn't remain locked away in the place of her death forever. She'd do her best to gain access to the site herself, and if she couldn't, the Turkish authorities would soon find her corpse and she would be laid to rest properly.

"At the very least, Jean-Yves said that when they uncover all the bodies, he'll go down there to identify her himself so she doesn't have to stay in the morgue too long."

Kurtis continued after a moment of silence. "Apparently it's causing quite the stir over there. Since reopening it they've discovered a bunch of dead bodies, the remains of gigantic spiders, and they still don't know what caused the lake to collapse. And get this: They uncovered the site of an ancient meteorite crash and they think an entire society used to live down there and worship angels."

Lara glowered and crossed her arms over her chest, then let out a breath as she banished the negative thoughts. "It doesn't matter," she said with resignation. Then she realized with surprise that it really _didn't_ matter to her.

"You've discovered enough archeological finds in your time, right? Let someone else have the glory for once. And you still got a shiny new toy for your trophy room in the end."

Now _that_ brought a smile to her face. Technically it wasn't hers for the keeping; it was on loan, until circumstances requiring its use arose. But she still got to put it in a nice glass case among all her other spoils, and that was enough.

Kurtis had needed to do something with the Periapt Shards, so he divided them up: One for him, one for Lara, and one to go back in an undisclosed Lux Veritatis stronghold, to be guarded by his ancestors' spirits. Lara readily agreed to the deal, accepting the honor humbly. She would never admit it, but what brought her the most joy was knowing it meant he wouldn't leave her forever. As long as she had one of the Shards in her possession, he would be a part of her life; no matter where he went or for how long, he'd eventually come back to her.

And leave he would. He'd already packed his bag and booked a flight for the following day, not wanting to overstay his welcome. She had protested – though she'd tried to frame it like she didn't really care if he left, that he should stay longer and consider it a well-deserved holiday – but he insisted. He was constantly worried the butler would walk in on them in a compromising position, despite Lara assuring him the old man knew better.

"Next time, give poor Winston some time off before I get here, OK?" He said, then he froze when he realized he'd just given himself away. _Next time..._

Lara snuggled closer under the arm wrapped around her shoulders, as Kurtis placed his lips gently upon hers. She tilted into the kiss and tangled her fingers in his hair, sighing against his mouth with contentment. He pulled away and looked into her brown eyes so big and full with love. Full with love for _him_...

 _I must_ _'ve_ _been real good to deserve all this..._

"Yes, next time..." she murmured. Next time was already too far away for them.

He watched as her eyes glimmered, the fire dancing in their depths as she looked at the crackling flames on the hearth.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _A big thank you to my beta-reader, Meldelen. Without you this fic would have been quite different, and *not* for the better. I appreciate all the time you spent reading my chapters and giving me your honest opinion. I'm forever thankful and in your debt! ^_^_

 _Shout out to my husband for beta-reading this fic for grammatical errors, now I don't sound like such an idiot :)_

 _And a thank you to all those who've left kind and encouraging reviews: luluvonv, Kimpoedel, Nemesis, Ferilium, Soleen, jayjay0815, anonomnom, and all the silent readers._

 _And an enormous thank you and kudos to Murti Schofield for giving us the amazing storyline and background for Angel of Darkness, and for releasing all his notes for the game and its canceled sequels._

 _I first got the idea to write this fic after reading the released story and game notes for the AoD sequels. There was so much information out there that for once, I could envision what an actual sequel could have realistically looked like. I wanted to write it using as many of the elements from these notes as I could. Of course, not everything was actually used. For one, this is only one fic, not two or three, which is how many it would take to cover all the information. So I made some of my own cuts. I left out locations and items and plotlines that I didn't like or couldn't mesh in with the rest of the story. I came up with my own "background" story about the Origin theory, and about the ritual that would revive the Nephilim. But I'd like to take a moment to compile the ideas I did take from Murti's notes, so praise for the ideas can go to the right person._

 _Here's everything I took from his notes. If you think I've forgotten something, please let me know!:_

 _-Morgau Vasiley: She's Murti's creation, with a little of my own twist on her. Physically, I depict her differently, with hair and eyes different and a scar on her face. In my fic she has no Lux Veritatis weapons and her corselet is a little different, plus I made her not as powerful as she is in the notes._

 _-Everything about Morgau's father (Karel in disguise was the one who sent doctored orders to him, freeing Eckhardt)._

 _\- My "Chamber of Oddities" is the "Hall of Trophies" in Murti's notes. Was meant to be included in the Strahov but was changed to the Vault of Trophies and ended up nothing like the original. Konstantin's body was meant to be seen there, preserved in some sort of waxified way. This was overseen by Luther Rouzic; it's unclear whether they're completely his doing, Eckhardt's doing, or a combined project. I chose to make it a combined project in my fic, and go as far as having Rouzic a partner of sorts in Eckhardt's AAVP._

 _-All of the information about Eckhardt's Alchemical Augmentation and Vivisection Program (AAVP) were taken from Murti's notes._

 _-The fact that there were actually two more Sleepers buried in Turkey – the one in the Strahov was not the last._

 _-All locations – Castle Kriegler in Germany, Chateau Montsegur in France, and Cappadocian Valley/Goreme in Turkey – were either cut from first game (Germany) or meant to show up in sequels._

 _\- Montsegur and the Sleeper Scrolls are from Murti's notes, as well as Morgau getting and translating them for Karel. They were supposed to contain LV secrets including the location of the remaining two sleepers (which is in my fic. What's different though, is that my Morgau couldn't decipher them completely and needed Kurtis)_

 _-Bloodline Rooms that heal, in Castle Kriegler (and in other locations as well). Kurtis suspecting the Sleeper Scrolls were in Montsegur._

 _-All of Kurtis' spoken Latin was supposed to be in AOD, but were cut._

 _-Kurtis' "toxic coma"/regenerative sleep was how he was supposed to have survived being run-through by Boaz._

 _-Kurtis' Energy Drain was meant to be in AOD, but was cut. In sequels Kurtis may have been able to cover or shield Lara with his psychic powers, which he does a few times in this fic._

 _-Zodiac/Astrology theme was an early concept for the Hall of Seasons, but were cut from game. I utilized the idea in the tombs under Montsegur._

 _-The Three Realities as a boss fight was meant for Eckhardt originally, then after cut from AOD, it was recycled as a possible Karel boss fight._

 _-The Cappadocian Valley as the final location, as well as the use of underground cities and a room being located under a body of water. Using a map of Turkey for real life locations, I decided to make this lake be the Damsa Reservoir, and the underground city to be the yet-undiscovered Nevsehir underground city (it was only recently discovered in real life, I believe in 2015 and is believed to be very extensive; the city in Murti's notes is one of the lesser known smaller ones)._

 _And here's some additional background information I couldn't find the place to put in my story:_ _Morgau was the one who compiled the damning evidence against Eckhardt which got the police to stop considering Lara a suspect in the Monstrum murders. She did it out of spite to him and as a way to give thanks to Lara for killing him. She never tells Lara though, who remains clueless._

 _Once again, a huge thank you to all my readers! :D_

 _~ Clairesail_


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